[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Sean.Heihn

Now what I'd do is buy a 1NZ-FXE (or a small diesel) and make a 'battery pack-less' series hybrid. Have the engine drive a generator to supply electricity for the traction motor/s, with start/stop, a small battery pack to supply power to start the engine/power the traction motor/s while the engine spins up, regenerative braking to charge the battery pack. You'd cut down on weight and cost without the huge battery packs in current hybrids, plus with hub traction motors you'd cut down on complexity, cost, and power transmission loss and the engine, since it only provides power to the generator, can spin at the peak efficiency rpm range. Basically this is how diesel/electric locomotives work.

Please tell me this is a joke or a test to see if everyone is awake.