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50mpg from a 50% efficient engine is disappointing.
I don't know exactly what the conversion losses add up to when going from engine to generator to battery to electric motor, but that's got to be at least 10% more than a manual or automatic transmission connected directly to an engine.
If you always want to have enough power to drive up a long hill, the battery charging threshold would have to be pretty high, so you'd spend most of your time with the engine running and keeping the battery topped up. And at that point your mileage would be worse than a conventional drivetrain because of the conversion losses.
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