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Old 01-18-2012, 10:07 PM   #69 (permalink)
cfg83
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1999 Saturn SW2 - '99 Saturn SW2 Wagon
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Ken -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fry View Post
...

* Dunno if you followed this, but it seemed pretty strange to my engineering brain. If you like the Volt, and if this improves its efficiency, then shouldn't you like the direct drive? But many people thought it made the Volt less an electric car. If you wanna drive it only on electricity you still can at exactly the same efficiency level... the direct drive just means you will use less fuel, if you need to run on gas. How can that be bad?
I like the original definition of a "pure" series hybrid :

Hybrid vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
Series hybrid
...
Series-hybrid vehicles are driven by the electric motor with no mechanical connection to the engine. Instead there is an engine tuned for running a generator when the battery pack energy supply isn't sufficient for demands.
However, that's an ideal definition before there were actual hybrids on the road. Whenever I've read about implementations for real world use, the ideal series hybrid *definition* is always compromised.

CarloSW2
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