Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
There must be a way to increase towing capacity, increase efficiency, and reduce lifetime operating costs by going with a series hybrid. It works well for trains, and there is a TEDx talk about running series hybrid garbage trucks with turbine engines for efficiency and lower maintenance.
The F150 hybrid has a 10 speed automatic transmission, which must cost a fortune and weigh a lot. Eliminate all that nonsense.
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No, that is the stock transmission all the other trucks get. The Ford Hybrid system is not more efficient. But the motor it is attached to is. Ford and a few others seem to be figuring out how to smooch an electric motor between stock engines and transmissions. Also, units Chevy they attached it to the most powerful motor and lost almost nothing in towing capacity, while making it the most powerful motor option. And you can only get the 7.2kW onboard power with the hybrid system. That's how you make the hybrid cool.
The GM hybrids really did get a raw deal just because people didn't see a big improvement in highway gas mileage right when he prices soared. I feel like they didn't go big enough. If they had done a Volt style plug in Hybrid system that got much better highway mileage, that might have more popular. But I'm not sure it would have been affordable, or tough enough at the time.