OT: Hybrid cars

[Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda]

Hi Mord,

You are looking for something like this:community:
http://www.kml.co.il/Models/%D7%98%D7%95%D7%99%D7%95%D7%98%D7%94_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A1

But you are right that hybrid cars have a lot of user-visible algorithms in
them, and I think this makes it interesting to reverse-engineer.

I think the most important division of hybrid cars is if the electric
engine can be a stand-alone (like Toyota and Lexus) or is just a helper
(like Honda Insight). A stand-alone electric motor will reduce your gas
consumption in traffic jams, and a helper engine will give you additional
boost when needed (instead of getting a larger engine to begin with).

If you are looking for real efficiency, you want a small car with a hybrid
stand alone engine, which is what the Toyota Yaris gives you.

However, you also need to look into the algorithmics of the car. For
example, the older Prius (2005-2009) would charge its battery when you are
standing, just because it got empty (in case you want to boost your 1.5L
engine soon). The B (Break?) gear is also interesting: The old Prius would
just shift into low gear and actually consume more fuel, I believe, when
you go down the mountain (and don't want to burn your breaks). However,
 when you slow down or use the B gear, the Lexus  charges the battery more
efficiently first, and only if it must - actually uses the breaks or other
wasteful methods (at least in Eco mode).

Another annoying piece of algorithm is that the old Prius refuses to run in
ev mode (just electric motor) if you go above 40 Km/hour. This is rather
stupid if you are just using your current speed to go down the mountain.

Orna


On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 1:42 PM, Mord Behar <mordbe0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
> I know that this is off-topic, but I really don't know who to ask.
> See, I need a large pool of Linux-like brains that live in Israel for this.
> I mean, people (like me) who track gas liters and kilometerage, wear and
> tear on the car, insurance and things like that.
>
> Does anybody have numbers and experience to show how economical it is to
> buy a hybrid car, and which one?
> At what point of city-driving and non-city-driving does it pay to buy a
> hybrid car? Gas is really expensive now, and probably just going to go up.
> But hybrid cars are expensive too and the shelf life of the battery is 5-10
> years...
> And I suppose that the terrain matters as well. In Jerusalem the hybrid
> car will use more gasoline than in Tel Aviv.
> Thanks.
>
> P.S.
> Mods, if you remove this message I totally understand, but could you
> please point me somewhere else instead?
>
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>


-- 
Orna Agmon Ben-Yehuda.
http://ladypine.org
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