Robin van Spaandonk wrote: I don't think it will be much more efficient than an ordinary car once the > battery is exhausted.
Oh, I am sure it is. At that point, the car becomes an ordinary hybrid, and any hybrid is more efficient than a straight ICE -- even a hybrid made with a conventional ICE. This is well established: people have been making prototype hybrids with ordinary ICEs since 1906, and they always work better. > That would imply a considerable improvement in the > development of the ICE . . . Nope. That's not the reason. The reasons are kind of involved. There was an excellent article about it in Sci. Am. years ago, which I can dig up if you want. To make a long story short, the main reasons are: The ICE runs in the sweet spot (the ideal speed and load); Electric motors are far more efficient at startup and at low speed; The brakes regenerate. > In short, once the battery is exhausted, it begins to look more and more > like an > ordinary car, the further you drive. No, it looks like a Prius, which gets anywhere from 50 to 80 mpg, much better than other mid-sized cars. The Prius buffer fills up quickly and braking energy is wasted after that (not regenerated). A Prius with extra batteries easily gets over 100 mpg, even without plug in capabilites. Furthermore, the Prius ICE is specially designed for hybrid use, and it is more efficient than an off-the-shelf ordinary ICE would be. I am sure the new Chinese car will also have a specially designed ICE. - Jed
