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Hybrid Vehicles Hybrid Vehicles - Archived Discussions How do Hybrids work? Newbie questions encouraged! 
139 messages, Last post on Aug 02, 2007 at 5:38 PM
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Replying to: larsb (Nov 03, 2005 9:55 am) And being smart, he wouldn't have forgotten about the $450 monthly payment coming out his bank account either. |
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quote Z04-"And being smart, he wouldn't have forgotten about the $450 monthly payment coming out his bank account either."-end quote If Albert did not pay cash for his vehicle, then he would have a monthly car payment ANYWAY, whether he owned a Hummer or a Hybrid. Might as well have low fuel costs if the car payment is there REGARDLESS of the vehicle type. 
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Replying to: larsb (Nov 04, 2005 9:14 am) Let's not have the exact same comparisons we've had before in the name of Albert, shall we. |
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I acutally can't imagine Einstein driving anything else other than a Prius. He wouldn't have any payments because Toyota would have given it to him for being the spokesperson. Hybrids... gotta love them!!!
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Replying to: falconone (Nov 04, 2005 9:23 am) That's the only way it would be cheap to operate a hybrid.
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And this discussion of Einstein has WHAT to do with how hybrids work?  Let's contain the pros and cons of hybrids to appropriate topics please. Can't have it bleed into every topic. |
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Replying to: zodiac2004 (Nov 04, 2005 9:25 am) 
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Replying to: falconone (Nov 04, 2005 1:26 pm) What were her other cars?
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Replying to: zodiac2004 (Nov 04, 2005 1:52 pm) |
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Hopefully this won't turn into a discussion about Einstein- so I'll keep my question as specific as possible. in reading a lot of these forums, there's a notion out there that the more you run on electric-only mode, the better your overall FE will be. (in the HH forum, seems like that has been discussed lately) So for the sake of this discussion, let's just talk about toyota systems. The way I understand hybrids to work (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that a gas engine is inneficient at low speeds. whereas an electric motor has an even torque band across the range of rpms. so hybrids use the electric motor to accelerate from a standstill and uses gas once the car is just cruising to maximize efficiency. So it would make sense to charge the battery while the car is "cruising" along when the ICE is running most efficiently. OK so here's my problem understanding why forcing the car to run at electic is good. why would you run the car at cruising speed in electric mode, when the gas engine is already at its most efficient "zone?" By depleting the battery, you are going to have to force the engine to charge it up at a later time perhaps when the engine is not runnig efficiently. as someone has already pointed out, transfering power from one source to another is not 100% efficient. (and let's ignore regen braking for the moment because the recomended fuel savings techniques tell you to anticipate stops and to minimize brake use.) wouldn't it make sense to selectively force the engine into running on electric-only. let's say you knew there was a down hill coming a mile after the red light so that you deplete the battery by running electric only, and you recharge it as you go down the big hill. But if you knew there was a big up hill coming, you might want to get that battery charging so that you could use the electric assist to climb up the hill. I know the computer in the car is programmed to seemlessly optimize when to charge and when to run on electric. But the computer cant sense the traffic ahead, the slope of the road, whether you're getting on/off the highway... etc. So ultimately is my thinking correct? Is the notion of arbitrarily trying to run in electric only mode a good one, or should we try to be more selective in when we try to force the car in electric mode?
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Hybrid Vehicles Hybrid Vehicles - Archived Discussions How do Hybrids work? Newbie questions encouraged!
