Anyone else intrigued by the Prius/Hybrids
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Soldato
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Robbie G, as Fox said, it is flawed, but the only argument 'they' are giving is that you're taking the fumes out of city traffic. But as you say, at the end of the day, electricity has to be generated and stored somehow/somewhere.
Going back to the 2 cylinder Fiat Multiair, if you had a sort-of 6 cylinder engine, 2 cylinders could be based solely for city driving and the other 4 for out of town driving. Would this work?
Going back to the 2 cylinder Fiat Multiair, if you had a sort-of 6 cylinder engine, 2 cylinders could be based solely for city driving and the other 4 for out of town driving. Would this work?
Soldato
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Like an Atkinson cycle engine where is better efficiency comes at the cost of torque output which you then supplement with an electric motor..... oh wait. What you could even do is run that engine at an optimal speed aswell with a variable ratio powerplit device.... Oh wait? Thats a Toyota Prius. Later we will have series hybrids like the Volt, although maybe not uber efficient engine in that as its just a Corsa lump. Its too costly to introduce the really significant series hybrids at the moment.
Braking is a pretty significant part of recharging the batteries so its either charge the battery for later use or heat a metal brake disc up.
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Huh?
Check the part I bolded? It does those attributes over a typical petrol and arguably a similar sector diesel?
BMW do seem to have the ED stuff nailed now. Whats the price one of those though?
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Soldato
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If you are saying "why not just buy a diesel" then thats exactly the same reason why anyone would buy petrol over diesel, the same old tired arguments and discussion of petrol vs diesel. Hybrid just adds the benefit of higher mpg and the other benefits of a hybrid car apparently better throttle response etc
In a few years time as the technology gets better and better hopefully there will be no need for diesel at all.
They have regenerative braking, so braking in a certain way, i.e. lightly long before you get to a traffic light will give the batteries a nice little charge, this, and driving downhill can both charge the batteries so saying petrol is used to charge the batteries isn't strictly true.
I don't want to sound like I'm championing hybrids, but I don't like misinformation either.
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Im not.
I mean more reliable, cheaper to run and service was the question raised/stated. My suggestion that 1 million Prius out there are exhibiting these attributes.
I received a HUH? for that comment hence me suggesting re reading the bold points up above.
The future is hydrogen fuel cells or another form of efficient, on-board electricity generation. Carting a load of batteries around, the manufacture of which is highly environmentally-unfriendly and which are charged using electricity generated from fossil fuels, isn't the answer.
Cons: Massive hydrogen tank in a reinforced crash proof box = no boot.
As Robert Llewellyn said on his web episode Fully charged, Hydrogen is more suited to commercial vehicles that can accommodate the huge hydrogen tanks required.
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i got a 2004 honda Civic IMA Hybrid and think its damn good for what it is.
its basicaly a 1.3 petrol engine with an electric motor asisting, depending on how you drive I can get 600 miles to a full tank and at the moment that costs roughly just over £50.
Only problem I do find now and then as living in wales, is if i decide to drive say extended mountainous roads then I will usualy just be running on petrol towards to upward climb if i dont make sure my battery is fully charge before hand.
i usualy reset one of my trip meters after every tank to keep a eye on what kind of MPG im doing and its always between 52MPG and 58MPG, now for a mondeo sized car with full leather, electric heated seats i think its pretty damn good.
I only have to pay £35 tax for a whole year which is nice to hehe
will admit im currently thinking of buying a performance diesel as i want abit more speed but still want economy as i travel atleast 16,000 miles i would say a year even tho this is not the kind of miles you will see money saving on a diesel i still want one
but still dont want to give this car up 
its basicaly a 1.3 petrol engine with an electric motor asisting, depending on how you drive I can get 600 miles to a full tank and at the moment that costs roughly just over £50.
Only problem I do find now and then as living in wales, is if i decide to drive say extended mountainous roads then I will usualy just be running on petrol towards to upward climb if i dont make sure my battery is fully charge before hand.
i usualy reset one of my trip meters after every tank to keep a eye on what kind of MPG im doing and its always between 52MPG and 58MPG, now for a mondeo sized car with full leather, electric heated seats i think its pretty damn good.
I only have to pay £35 tax for a whole year which is nice to hehe
will admit im currently thinking of buying a performance diesel as i want abit more speed but still want economy as i travel atleast 16,000 miles i would say a year even tho this is not the kind of miles you will see money saving on a diesel i still want one
but still dont want to give this car up
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Was waiting for this?
Before you develop the fuel cell how do you work out the best way to manage its batteries- thats right - they have batteries as load buffers. Then you want a nice drivetrain.
Infact why not just do that and have the range extender in a number of options that dont cost £100k? ****el, petrol ICE, gas turbine?
Making the batteries is pretty minor in terms of a car manufacture and its diplaced fuel extraction, distilling and burning soon cancels any concerns of that out.
You need about 4 times the energy (from fossil fuels you say yeah?) to make hydrogen to drive a car the same distance you could go on electricity stored in a battery.
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Great car really. Just overlooked cos it looks a bit normal yet thats what most people moan about regarding current hybrids
Bit more output from the Civic Motor than the Insights and CRZ aswell, I think the first generation of Civic Hybrids had lean burn aswell.
Thought he was talking about a Prius!
Either way my point still stands, I use to thrash my 1.2 petrol Punto about and never saw below 48mpg.
How can 10 years on, a car only slightly bigger, that has a hybrid engine only just about reach the same figures?
I know it's more down to CO2 but to be honest as a driver I couldn't care how much CO2 comes out of my car.
A Civic isnt a Mondeo sized car, it's a Focus sized car.
The Hybrid is a 4dr saloon, pretty Mondeo sized to my eyes.
How is it not flawed, a diesel will produce better MPG than a Hybrid over any meaningful sized trip, thus a diesel uses less oil (which will run out one day) ...
Hybrids are just a stupid thing at the moment, what is needed is an electric car with a small diesel generator, rather than the current crop of hybrids
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Or a similar size to a Focus saloon?
Focus saloon - 4481 x 1991mm - 1.27 tons
Mondeo saloon - 4731 x 1931mm - 1.40 tons
Civic IMA Saloon - 4440 x 1715mm - 1.19 tons