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A comment on GM, Volkswagen Say Goodbye to Hybrid Vehicles. Parent comment

Re:GM, Volkswagen Say Goodbye to Hybrid Vehicles by dreamcompiler on Monday August 12, 2019 @04:09PM (#20679408)
The Volt has a 1.4L ICE engine, three clutches, two electric motors (of two different types--ferrite and neodymium), a large battery, a wall charger, an inverter, and a complicated mechanical transmission that accepts drive input from any motor. The Volt may be more efficient than an ICE car, but it is in no way simpler.
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Re:GM, Volkswagen Say Goodbye to Hybrid Vehicles by ProfessorLayton on Monday August 12, 2019 @09:16PM (#20681910)
The Volt may not be simpler (Not saying it isn’t, but many of the parts you listed are in regular ICE cars, just in different proportions) — but that’s not inherently because it’s a hybrid.

Look at Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive. It is rather beautiful in its simplicity, and bypasses the need for a traditional automatic transmission — a part so complicated the big auto makers have mostly given up on designing in-house. Toyota’s HSD scales from the tiny Prius to Hylander, something a CVT can’t do reliably.

Hondas’s hybrids are also mechanically simpler by bypassing a transmission as well, and the ICE motor driving the wheels directly at highway speeds.

Failing transmissions are often the cause of a totaled older car, because it is an extremely complex and expensive part to replace.

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