Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix'97
Moving on, I wasn't scoffing hybrid technology. I just have a different idea of how it should be used, which is all the time. For all the times that hybrid technology is needed to assist a gasoline engine, I fail to see why you don't just use the electric assist all the time! If it is truly hybrid, half-electric car and half gasoline car, why not have the electric assist on all the time? However, if these systems can't be designed to charge themselves which I have a hard time wrapping my head around given how a car electrical system works, then I have to accept it for it is. I want to increase my city mileage and hybrid technology will do that. I want to help my engine out when it starts to lose vacuum, here electric assist will help.
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The answer as to why it can't work all the time is this: Creating electricity is done by using electric motors to brake the car. You don't want to drive around with regenerative braking on all the time, it will ruin your fuel economy because your engine is fighting the motors trying to slow you down. The only way you could use electricity constantly is if you had a source of it that was entirely free - such as plugging in your car at one of the free charging stations.
EDIT: Plug-in hybrids really do get assisted all the time. They do this by having huge batteries that you fill up at home, and run down as you drive.