Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Finally, as an engineer, the complexity and shear amount of 'stuff' you need to make a realistic EV or hybrid bothers me. It's not just the costly and not particularly green-to-manufacture batteries, it's the regenerative braking systems, it's the 'range extender' you need to drive any distance, it's the wildly complex transmission systems that you need to marry up all the various sources of power and it's the weight of all this stuff you have to cart around in the name of saving fuel and reducing emissions.
I'm not sure what is complex in an EV. Code, perhaps. But hardware? ICE has more parts, and in the engine alone. Battery, convertor, motor, differential.
Hybrids can be more complex than conventional, with more parts. However, Prius does have a battery pack, and electric motor; but no transmission. [I believe they got rid of even the serpentine belt!] Regeneration is done by the electric motor, so no additional parts there.
Ford, Toyota, and Honda hybrids are relatively simple. Ford-Toyota hybrids do have a "transmission", yet I consider the transmission the sum total of 2 electric motors and 1 simple planetary gearset, for smooth power split with no clutches, no torque convertors, no shifting.
Its true no serpentine is needed. Honda Accords have a clever series-parallel arrangement, series at low speeds, and one dog-tooth clutch for power split (parallel) at higher speeds, not too complicated.
As for battery weight, thats why I don't favor PlugIn hybrids, since I have a gas engine with the penalty of a large Li-Ion battery in the back, too much in my opinion, and also too expensive (have you priced a Volt lately? too high). Non-plugIn Hybrids with something like a 1.5 kWH battery makes more sense, giving you a decent 40-60 MPG without severe weight penalty.