AllenF — I was, of course, commenting on the first paragraph of your earlier post (#11); this concerned HEVs and not PHEVs. Yes, the electric motors are far more efficient in converting electrical-energy-in to mechanical-energy-out than an ICE is in converting chemical energy in the gasoline into mechanical energy, but the energy input to the motor comes ultimately from the ICE anyway, and so the electric system simply adds an additional (small) energy loss to the system. The reason this can be beneficial from an FE point of view, is that the HEV design allows the ICE to be run in a generally more efficient regime than is normally the case in a non-hybrid. And, of course, the facts that the ICE is frequently "off" when it's not needed (as when idling or coasting, for example), and significant kinetic energy is recovered as charge in the battery (instead of being wasted as heat, as would otherwise be the case) when braking, are additional major factors that increase the in-town FE of an HEV. But you don't get energy for free, and every single kWh of energy used came ultimately from the ICE (and thus from the gasoline), and so includes its very significant losses. By the way, an ICE is very inefficient at low power outputs, and so the argument in your latest post for recharging the battery with the ICE running at low power wouldn't result in high FE, but the opposite.

Stan