StuartV
Ram Guru
The new hybrids are "e-cvt". They're actually driven by dual electric motors powered by the battery pack. I much prefer the current hybrid engineering to the old style. I was ridiculed here in the past for recommending bigger batteries with a small on board engine to act as a generator. That's what honda and Toyota are now moving to. The prius is now a 0-60 6.6 second car. The CRV hybrid is making 204 combines hp and 247 torque. Not bad when the torque is available immediately at the low end. The bonus is no turbo!
I have said the same thing for many years. And not just any old ICE engine onboard. If it weren't for political BS, it would be a small turbodiesel setup to run off biodiesel. All that corn they use to make ethanol should be going to make biodiesel instead.
Just look at the performance we're getting now from the EcoDiesel. A 3.0 liter turbo 6-cylinder. To run a hybrid that uses a big battery pack and electric motors to actually drive, and a small turbodiesel to charge and/or help when needed, you'd probably only need a 1 - 1.5 liter 4-cylinder. And maybe a 5 - 10 gallon fuel tank.
Set it up so you can plug it in to charge, when available, and conserve the onboard fuel. That is an EV I would be happy to own (once they got all the bugs worked out).
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the REV with the range extender they have talked about will be some form of that - though it probably won't be diesel.
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