I googled it and that's pretty much the best description I could come up with, from an article on the 2004 model.
It's a seriously interesting design. I'd rather have a Tesla, but the Prius is a very nice 4 door sedan with superb mileage and a reasonable cost. -Adam Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > That's a useful article as far as it goes, thanks. I think the > information is basically correct although it's referring to the 2001 > model not the current series which has gone through some additional > development. Adam's description of a planetary gear coupling between > the two drive motors sounds logical, although I would certainly love > to know and understand more about it. All in all, it's fascinating > technology that's been a long time coming. I remember seeing ideas > and concepts on this kind of drive system as much as 25-30 years back. > > Being curious about interesting technology like this, I might see if > I can get my hands on a parts fiche and service manual. I know I'm > going to crawl around it with a notebook and camera a lot when I get > it... :-) > > Godfrey > > > On Jul 26, 2006, at 10:50 AM, Gonz wrote: > > >>The best description I found is here: >> >>http://tinyurl.com/pwsck >> >>If what the author says is correct, then its a very clever scheme to >>allow power from both the engine and the motors to contribute via the >>differential like device. So it must make a smooth transition to the >>engine as the speed goes up, and the motors can contribute if you need >>to accelerate, adding their power. So technically, it sounds like >>there >>is no transmission in the conventional sense? >> >>It sounds like Peter is wrong about the motor being the only >>connection >>to the wheels, but he does mention something about mechanical power >>being shunted. I'm not sure I understand the terminology enough to >>dispute this. I've never seen one in detail mechanically either. > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
