On another forum, Ken mentioned...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Fry
the Volt does not charge up the battery when the engine is on. It simply keeps the battery at a low charge level <snip> I'd have to make things more complicated if I wanted to avoid charging up the battery. Why on earth would I want to do that??
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Because it's cheaper (and in some situations, greener) to get your recharge power from a wall plug than from a gas station.
If I were building a plug-in hybrid, I'd do it your way, Ken, because on the small vehicle scale, simplicity trumps efficiency. But if there were an easy way to do it (perhaps some lightweight and inexpensive electronic way?) your customers will be money ahead if they series-hybrid their way home from a long drive and arrive with the battery at a low charge level. Then they can recharge it back to a high level on coal instead of gasoline.