Ok, I saw a lame one today on TV. Great... American ingenuity? Hmmm... let's see, the Prius has been doing this since 97. However, GM has shipped EVs w/regen before that. For those who aren't aware, eAssist GM's name for their 2nd gen BAS mild hybrids. One can see that it yields far inferior combined mileage vs. HSD (Compare Side-by-Side) and even worse mileage than the non-hybrid '13 Altima.
The HSD system is an American invention and patented by TRW. Toyota does not invent it. So you think Toyota invented the modern hybrid? Think again!
Ok, fair enough. Except TRW doesn't sell or make cars and GM wasn't the first w/a mass market hybrid car. It seems the closest hybrid that GM first sold to consumer w/a similar system was their Two-Modes starting w/model year 08. (BAS mild-hybrids both 1st gen and the 2nd gen in the above ad aren't really similar to that TRW system, at least from me skimming the reference.) Toyota's deployment of HSD (or something similar w/the NHW10 Prius) predates GM's application of two-mode in buses.
