So I found this curious: Car review: VW's all-electric e-Golf is as zippy and roomy as gas version - LA Times After a week in the e-Golf, I'd say Klopotowski and company have succeeded. The car is zippy and fun to drive. Like all electric cars, it's extremely quiet and vibration free. It's just as comfortable as its fellow Golfs, with a pleasantly firm ride and all the key dashboard components visible and all the important functions in easy reach. It has excellent visibility. Importantly, it drives much more like a sports car with 115 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque than something designed to save the planet. In "B" regenerative braking mode, particularly, the accelerator response is instantaneous, making the car quick to dash forward and aggressive to brake. Toyota reports the 2016 Prius has a combined 121 HP. However, the Prius parallel hybrid drive means for torque there is 105 lb-ft from the engine and 120 lb-ft from MG2, for our e-Golf fans, 225 lb-ft. But torque from either the e-Golf or the 2016 Prius is nonsense as the only torque that counts is what shows up at the drive wheels after the transmission and all other losses. I suspect someday Toyota engineering will make a 'test' Prius with all the stops out . . . and loan it to some of our 'gear head' friends . . . at the Toyota track of course. Oh to have a ticket to the stadium on that day. Being a Japanese car, it would have the rear drive wheels too. <GRINS> Bob Wilson
What HSD lacks is accelerator response this makes a huge subjective difference in performance, they should make a small supercap only for 500 ms 40 kW bursts (+20 kW from battery), when you are waiting for the engine to go to the right rpm.
The car already has the power necessary to significantly shorten the 0-60 time: Ad Hoc 0-60 mph | Page 3 | PriusChat Based on Jason's maximum acceleration test, the net HP rolls in slowly. It takes about ~5 seconds to reach 90 hp @40 mph and is probably ramped in to avoid tire spin. Bob Wilson
I doubt that "net HP rolls in slowly" on purpose, it's HSD design that restricts ICE to spinning at max rpm at slower speeds. But even if you are cruising at 40 mph and put your foot down, there will be considerable longer lag than in e-Golf - this makes it a better experience even if the 0-60 time is the same (e-Golf takes 0-60 10.2s). But it is interesting that only 115 HP and 1,585 kg makes it in 10.2s, VW is known for this that they state lover (or on wheels) HP for all their models, it may have something to do with EU taxes on kW.
Electric hp are not the same as gas engine hp... or rather, they get there differently. Instant response vs ramping up. So they cant be compared.
Not only does it matter what torque reaches the wheels, but at what speed you want it. At a stop, the ICE needs to spin up before peak torque is reached, and more so with a gasoline engine. An electric motor delivers peak torque at 0rpm. From a stop, it will be the e-Golf's 199lb-ft vs. the Prius' 120lb-ft from the MG2. Then "driving like a sports car" is more than going fast in a straight line. The ICE torque, is that from the engine's rating, or the engine minus the torque diverted by the PSD?
