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Old 03-22-2005, 04:30 PM   #4
curtis73
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Re: Hybrids from an engineering standpoint

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.
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