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Originally Posted by lakedude
This is completely impossible. The fancy display might show that the motor is assisting and charging but that is completely and totally not possible and therefore not a HSD advantage. What the display is reallly showing is the electrical power path with the exception of the mechanical drag put on the engine to produce the electrical power. The Prius can not function with a purely mechanical power path like a IMA based vehicle can. A Prius must route some of the power down the electrical path which is a disadvantage not an advantage.
Don't get me wrong the Prius is a fantastic piece of engineering (I'd love to have one) but it isn't magic. A motor can not produce power from thin air. If a motor is not getting power from the battery it must be coming from somewhere else.
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I think what he meant was that the prius engages the electric motor to assist to maintain speed, then when the computer reaches the desired/set speed , the electric motor switches back to a generator to recharge the battery.
That's what happens in my case btw with my 06 prius, I set the cruise control at 110km/hr in the highway the computer automatically tries to maintain that speed running the ICE alone and charging the battery; however, the computer is also very sensitive to every tilt and wind resistance: when it senses that the car needs more power to counteract wind speed or an uphill, it programs the electric motor to generate power to assist the ICE to help it maintain the cruise speed; then it reverts the electric motor back to a generator to recharge the battery and starts the process all over again if it encounters another resistance.
very nice piece of hardware
hopefully the next generation prius will be cheaper and at least 2x better.