You're in for a big sur-Prius Jun 4 2004 By Paul Malley It doesn't take much to bamboozle me but Toyota's new hybrid car provoked more than the usual amount of head-scratching.
Well, he did say he was easily bamboozled and might be forgiven for thinking the Prius has two power sources. In fact, gasoline is the only power source. The electricity is generated and stored by recovering the kenetic energy produced by the gas engine that a normal vehicle would be converting to heat energy while braking and then wasting.
I stopped reading this when he said it took him 10 minutes to figure out how to start it..... :roll: When I had my test drive, having never seen one before and not read much about one, the dealer gave me a key and said, "its round the back", I was mobile in about 1 minute, including setting the seats and mirrors. Not being use to a foot operated parking break held me up for 10 seconds perhaps ! :mrgreen:
i saw this statement in a newspaper recently too, and i wonder. i realize that gasoline is the MAIN power source, but the prius also charges its batteries in part from the regenerative braking, no?
Exactly right. The only power source, however, is gasoline. We don't have to plug into an external electric source to charge the batteries; in fact we can't plug in to provide an alternate source.
I think it's just a question of finding the right words to express accurately what they were trying to say. The energy that propels the car all comes ultimately from gasoline, irrespective of whether that energy may be converted and stored in the battery in the meantime. But from the perspective of the Power Split Device, there are, at any given moment in time, two inputs, i.e., two sources of power: the internal combustion engine and (one of) the electric motor(/generators).
I think what he may have been trying to explain is that the prius is a true hybrid as compared to others that use an assiting hybrid system.
65.7 mpg This article was from the UK. Imperial gallons are bigger than U.S. gallons. Imperial gallons are 4.55 litres, while U.S. gallons are 3.79 litres. That is why he is quoting 65.7 mpg. Clearly what we need to do in the U.S. is switch to imperial gallons, then everyone's mpg will go up!
nah, the price of milk would go up some more, and the orange juice jugs would get heavier (I am a member of a family of six so gallons are the only economical option)
