On Dec 22, 11:55*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
* *Andy Champ wrote:

(however you are correct, a diesel-electric with a generator and battery
set does have the opportunity to take the engine efficiency up a bit.
Not least because it can be tuned to run at one speed only)

But what speed do you set that at? That's the exact problem with the
Pious. The engine is tuned to run best at a particular speed. Exceed the
power it produces at that and it becomes horribly inefficient. Drive
slowly and with economy in mind and it can produce quite good results. As,
of course, can most other cars of that size. Load it up and drive it a bit
harder - like keeping up with the traffic on a motorway hill - and it
becomes far less economical than a conventional car. As well as being a
pain in the arse to drive.

--
*Bigamy is having one wife too many - monogamy is the same

* * Dave Plowman * * * * * * * * London SW
* * * * * * * * * To e-mail, change noise into sound.

You are missing the whole point. It is not a plug in hybrid in the
previous sense.
The engine is not mechanically connected to the drive train. It's
like an electric car but you carry round a petrol generator to charge
the battery when required. Engine runs at constant speed.

Regeneration recovers potential and kinetic energy and stores it in
the battery.

Must be fiendishly complex, heavy and expensive.
It is an attempt to cover all bases.