The ironic thing Ian is that you are making absolute claims yourself about blue lines ant etc
I'm NOT making absolute claims, I am making practical claims and, just saying "I don't see it", big difference. So nyah.
But anyway you decided that a typical unoptimized drivetrain had %28 losses, well that isn't what we are going to measure up against is it? Meanwhile you ignored drivetrain losses on the EV, and the effect that unloading has on the generator/engine as well as the ICE.
But even using this arbitrarily small gap, it should be obvious that a smart driver and/or smart controller can push the car all the way from idle RPM to near redline without ever dropping into the blue area.
But as speed levels off both the generator and the ice BOTH see less load (unless you charge batteries which is a big unknown and both vehicles can do it anyway so that is a moot point). So while the ICE is moving down the map, the series is too, and the series has a good head start, plus it has dropping generator and motor/controller/charger efficiency maps to consider as well (plus something of a driveline of its own).
So, I still don't see it. I can't prove the king is wearing any clothes because I don't see any on him.