Quote:
Originally Posted by bwilson4web
It is the integrated system of ICE and transaxle that gives the Prius unmatched efficiency. It is what is missing in the speculations and honorable competition.
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gonna chime in here, I think it is more a function of the right component parts for the job. A "right sized" atkinson engine pushing a bev with the bev drawing or adding as most efficient demands (not clear if recharging from gas ever make sense efficiency wise except to not kill the battery completely) would do fine with the right control scheme, there's always compromises.
The prius transmission conversions when it needs additional electric (which is fair bit of the time AFAICT to keep all the RPMs right) can get as bad as %70 per this article, though I are not a prius expert/marketer like bob, they may have added more gizmos to help out here
http://www.ae.pwr.wroc.pl/filez/2011...HEV_Toyota.pdf
"Also, the efficiency of the transmission is heavily dependent on the amount of power being transmitted over the electrical path. The latter has multiple conversions, with a low efficiency (70%) compared with the efficiency of the purely mechanical path (98%). Especially in higher speed regimes (>120 km/h) the efficiency (of the transmission alone) therefore drops below that of a generic automatic transmission with hydrodynamic coupler."
so I would probably like to at least try a stick shift version with a battery/generator disconnect for long boring hiway cruises
