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Sedans Midsize Sedans 2.0
13217 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 5:39 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: elroy5 (Dec 30, 2008 9:50 pm) Yes, it was PURE COINCIDENCE. When two people write software that does similar functions it often turns out the same. There are only so many ways to do something. It happens ALL THE TIME - you just don't normally hear about it. You (and others) just can't bear the thought that Ford did something good - on their own - and you just have to find something to detract from that. Can we stop with all the conspiracy theories now?
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Replying to: akirby (Dec 31, 2008 10:22 am) Nope, because like you said, some just can't bear the thought of Ford doing something good. Many of them work for Toyota. 
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Dec 31, 2008 9:05 am) A proper hybrid uses a high efficiency on-board generator(pick your poison) to make electricity to charge the batteries and electric motors. There is no transmission as the car is basically an electric vehicle with a greatly extended range.
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Replying to: plekto (Dec 31, 2008 11:59 pm)
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Replying to: backy (Jan 01, 2009 5:54 am)
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Jan 01, 2009 6:36 am) No, production car currently uses such a system, though they should, since it would cost a lot less and easily get 100mpg. ***(from wiki)*** In 1901, while employed at Lohner Coach Factory, Ferdinand Porsche designed the "Mixte", a series-hybrid vehicle based on his earlier "System Lohner-Porsche" electric carriage. The Mixte broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. The Mixte used a gasoline engine powering a generator, which in turn powered electric hub motors, with a small battery pack for reliability. It had a range of 50 km, a top speed of 50 km/h and a power of 5.22 kW during 20 minutes. The first such vehicle was exactly as I described, so by definition, such a design IS a hybrid vehicle as well. The Prius and Honda methods are needlessly cumbersome and complicated.
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Replying to: plekto (Jan 01, 2009 9:51 pm) If that design was so superior - why hasn't it already been built? |
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Replying to: plekto (Jan 01, 2009 9:51 pm) As for the Volt... anyone who can actually afford one, and thinks it will pay off for them compared to a hybrid like the 2010 Fulan or Prius, go for it. |
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Replying to: plekto (Jan 01, 2009 9:51 pm) The Prius and Honda methods (both of which are different, by the way), as well as the Ford method, have one distinct advantage, as mentioned. They have been proven to be practical in the real world. That "series-hybrid" which you described, which for the sake of argument we'll call "series-hybrid," ok? Anyway, it hasn't proven practical in cars. Trains, yes. Trains are hideously expensive. Cars, no. They're trying with the Volt, but the fact is you have to have batteries in between, because below a certain size, an electric generator doesn't produce enough electricity to move itself and its fuel around. 5.22 kW isn't enough to move the lightest car around unless it doesn't meet crash standards. And that 1901 car could only go about 25 MPh...and in fact could only go about 25 miles, which means it was only carrying around an hour's worth of fuel, which isn't much. Fuel is heavy. To carry more around you need more power, which means you need a bigger generator, which means you need more power and more fuel, which means you need to pull more weight, which means you need more power, which means you need a bigger generator, etc. The Volt comes close to your series-hybrid design, but still needs batteries to act as storage/capacitors. It's going to be $40,000 to start. You can get a Toyota/Ford/Honda style hybrid for half that.
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Jan 02, 2009 6:50 am) You basically need a 40-50HP motorcycle engine that's designed to run at one optimal speed to generate power. But the car would have some batteries to handle passing and acceleration of course, since you don't usually NEED more than 40-50hp in a car at highway speeds except for brief periods of acceleration. Toyota and Honda designed the cars that way so that they could run purely on gas if the batteries ran down to nothing. More of a fallback measure, when it's really not required. They would have done better with a half sized engine just generating power. Why did they do this? Because if the batteries go completely dead, then it would chug along like a VW Bug(say a really long mountain pass you're climbing up). Myself, I don't really care about going a bit slower for 3-4 miles if it means the rest of the time it gets 100mpg+.
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