Gas - Electric Hybrid Car

[muggle not]

Does anyone own a gas-electric hybrid car. Toyota is going to make a big sales push this year with their Prius in the U.S. as they think the timing is right for them to become a success.

Sales in the U.S. of the Prius in 2001 was 17,000 vehicles, in 2002 20,000, in 2003 20,000 and they are forecasting sales of 36,000 in 2004.

[Magical Trevor]

IMO, the Prius is a good all-around car. It's styling (last- and current-generation) is good, as well. It's been doing better than I expected, and I think the new car will do well too.

Honda needs to do something with the Insight, though-I've only seen one in the three years that it's been for sale.
It has early 90's Civic Styling, which is getting tired.
It's rear fenders don't impress me, either. Nor is it practical-only 2 seats? What's up with that?

[Bluebottle]

Originally posted by RacerGuy2
Honda needs to do something with the Insight, though-I've only seen one in the three years that it's been for sale.

I've seen one over here as well, so that's at least two have been sold

[muggle not]

I copied this from a car website, thought it was interesting:

For the uninitiated, a hybrid drivetrain uses a small gasoline engine in conjunction with an electric motor to provide power while keeping emissions and fuel usage to a minimum. Under full acceleration, both motors work together to provide maximum power, but under lighter load conditions, such as stop-and-go traffic, the Prius alternates between the two, oftentimes running purely on battery power alone. A regenerative braking system converts heat from the brakes into electricity to charge the car's batteries, so the Prius never has to be plugged in. A dashboard monitor allows you to see which engine is doing the work, and how much energy is being used at any given time, among other things.

Toyota calls the Prius' latest drivetrain a Hybrid Synergy Drive. Although it works in much the same way as the first-generation model, it delivers considerably more power with fewer emissions. Toyota claims that its exhaust emissions have been reduced by 30 percent over the previous model, allowing it to earn both SULEV (Super Ultra Low-Emission Vehicle) and PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) ratings. With a combined city/highway rating of 55 miles to the gallon, the Prius is the most economical midsize sedan on the road. Despite its miserly fuel ratings, the Prius can still accelerate to 60 mph in a respectable 10 seconds.

[3state]

I read and saw just recently an article on the updated Prius - looks even better. I've seen a few on the roads here, and in a nice twist, Energy Australia, one of Australia's largest energy providers is using them as 'company' cars.

[Mattracer]

Sorry to nit pick, but if you're on a long trip on a high speed motorway or highway without the need for regular braking, how does the electric motor charge up and does the petrol powered engine run for any of this or only under heavy load (uphill/overtaking?)

[Emfa]

Speaking of nit picking (I'm with you Matt )... The phrase "... braking system converts heat from the brakes into electricity ..." really seemed suspect to me. How are they to capture the heat? Is there a steam turbine of some sort?

This from the Toyota site (here):

The Prius' generator converts the engine's rotational motion into electrical energy, which drives the electric motor and charges the batteries. It also acts as the vehicle's starter motor. Needless to say, it is not your traditional generator, which should not be surprising because, in the name of efficiency, nearly all of Prius' major components do double, triple and even quadruple duty.

It was with this same kind of efficiency in mind that Toyota engineers asked themselves, "Why not recapture some of the energy lost while coasting, slowing down or coming to a stop?" Well, that's exactly what Prius' regenerative braking system does. When the driver does any one of these three things, the system turns the motor into a generator. The energy of the wheels produces electricity, which is then stored in the batteries.

Having said all that - I still don't know anyone who owns one.