So, with the regenerative braking and the fact that the electric motors are direct drive... with those benefits, you're saying that a 50 hp engine in a hybrid car would get is more energy efficient than a 50 hp engine in a non-hybrid car? I know there are way too many factors to say definitively, but in a controlled experiment, same engine, same car... yadda yadda.
I guess what I'm thinking is this: Of the 100% of the energy stored in the fuel, a percentage makes it to the ground creating force, and the rest gets peed away into the world via heat, noise, etc.
Of the BTUs available, do hybrids really get a greater percentage to the ground than the old fashioned engine, tranny, and gears? My intuition says no, but I'll admit that the manufacturers have been rather tight-lipped about the finer points of the technology, so my research has sorta stalled.