Not necessarily. Auto manufacturers always sell what they want so they can up charge for variation of the model of vehicle. EX: XL, XLT, Lariat, FWD, AWD, FX4, Tremor, Hybrid, PHEV, etc, etc. If it got better mileage who would buy EV. How could they sell an upgrade hybrid years from now. The added battery would be under the rear seat on the driver side where they plan to use the PHEV battery. Just a second 1.1 Kwh battery pack.
Agreed, they could add a bigger battery but the cost of materials and manufacturing would affect the original target $19,999 price. The Hybrids are constrained, is it the battery, motor or both that they can't make enough of?
If you are driving and are experiencing no engine braking then you should be efficiently using your recaptured power. If you have drives with long enough coasting to charge HVB (Downhill) to more than 70-72% then you shouldn't see much if any better mpg. You possibly would see longer ev periods between ice charging periods if you drive in a manner that uses ev mode but remember that ev mode only uses power that was originally generated by the ice. Different story with phev if you have cheaper way of putting power into a larger battery. If you buy solar panels and drive in ev mode long enough to pay the panels cost then after that time the phev would be more economical. What would be better roi, investment in solar panels or just doing something like paying the same amount on your home mortgage?I have driven my 23 Maverick Hybrid enough watching the EV coach to realize the hybrid battery recharges fairly quickly, so what IF the Hybrid Maverick had a larger EV battery larger than 1.1 Kwh. Would it go further in EV mode and get even better mileage? I do not know the EV battery charger specs but could it handle a 2 or 3 Kwh battery. My guess is yes. The 23 Escape PHEV has a 14.4 Kwh battery for 35 miles EV.
Well that is interesting. I imagine something just a little large that the 1.1 KHW battery (around 2-3KWH) not quite as big as the 14.4KWH PHEV battery. So not to over load the internal charging system. Even the Ford PHEV runs as Hybrid when not in EV only.
I agree mostly. There would be SOME benefit to a larger battery, like a bit more electric only time, and maybe capturing more energy from long declines…but it’s all a balancing act. Kinda like with the 14kwh plug-in escape battery someone mentioned as an example…over 10x more capacity, still only 35mi electric range. Consider the added weight and cost, and the amount of time it would ever get fully charged and that capacity actually used up in a cycle in a vehicle that can’t be plugged in to charge. Regular hybrids are a lot of short charges (decals and braking) and a lot of short discharges. Too big of a battery just isnt practical in a regular hybrid application. Once you get beyond the charge/discharge range of typical driving, additional capacity gets greatly diminishing returns as situations arising that could use the extra capacity just don’t occur as often.
Short answer is no. Longer answer is this is not a plug-in so all energy is derived from the ICE engine. The purpose of the electric portion is to store energy and then use it when the ICE engine is least efficient, such as starting from a full stop or accelerating quickly. This allows the ICE engine to run at it's most efficient.
So I live in a hilly area, and regularly go down long grades. It kills me that the battery is full at like a quarter to a third down the way. Yes the electric motor is small but dropping another 1-2Kwh battery in the other storage is appealing. Despite the electric motor size, it's great on low load and it provides additional torque on acceleration. And it's great on basic dips and turns, with momentum (as an ex- Miata /Boxster guy I'm all about momentum. I find it hard to believe the the additional weight wouldn't outweigh the ability to capture twice the breaking energy, not considering the material cost. I would also be surprised if the electronics didntscale... You just have a bigger bank, like a battery pack thats twice the size... There's no increase in amperage and we're not expecting greater output, just a longer sustainable energy source. Granted, I'm no electrical engineer... But is there anything about the concept that's infeasible?
