[dcb]

Do you have an Electric Vehicle already?

The problem is all the losses going from gasoline through an engine through a generator through a conditioner through a controller through a motor, all to rotate a shaft (which the motor was doing in the first place).

If you add charging and discharging batteries to the mix it gets even worse as there are charging circuits and charge is a loss and discharge is a loss.

I have said before, if you want to replace the chain on your 10 speed with an alternator and a motor, and you think you will be doing less work as a result, go for it.

So far the champions of series hybrids haven't produced one single real world measurement to support their position. They think that motors/generators/controllers are all 90+% efficient all the time and that drivers cannot possibly manage a stick shift to keep the engine near peak efficiency, and that batteries are perfect.

Even if it were as simple as generator->controller->motor all at 90% efficiency, that is still a %27 loss of power before you get back to a rotating shaft. And without batteries you cannot operate the engine "automatically" at peak efficiency any longer than even a half educated driver with a stick shift.

Therein lies the "controversy", people not questioning series hybrid losses and assuming stupid drivers. And these same people may just usher in a new era of sloppy ass automatic transmissions that keep people stupid.