Doctor Drivel wrote:

The ratio is continously variable


.....oh no! failure. The planetary cluster is referred to as a
power-splitter. A normal gearbox/CVT lowers and raises ratios. No ratios
are raised and lowered.

Nonsense. The wheel speed can vary independently of the engine or motor
speed. Therefore the ratio varies.

Back to basics. If you apply the correct power/torque at the wheels you
don't need a gearbox. An electric car doesn't have a gearbox because the
electric motors can do this.

However this is not what happens in the prius...

The Prius splits the power from the two power sources, which are approx 70

More correctly it combines power from two sources. No need to split two
independent things.

hp each, and sends the combined power to the wheels.
No raising or lowering
of ratios,

The wheel speed is not fixed for a given engine speed. Therefore the
ratios change.

That is what it does. Simple.

Yup, simple CVT.

Therefor it has CVT

Wrong as usual.

No CVT. Toyota say it has an electric CVT

Now lets just look at that sentence shall we... spot any inconsistencies?

marketing purposes only, as they think a departure from a gearbox is
something the public are not tuned up to. In practice it doesn't need one;
just clever application of power/torque.

Through a planetary gear that matches the engine speed to wheel speed by
variation of the effective gear ratio. The differential speed of the
power sources dictates the ratio.

What these outfits are doing is building plug-in hybrid vehicles, PHEVs.
PHEVs still have petrol engines which turn electric motors to charge the

Pretty much what they have done on trains for years then... (except with
batteries)



Extension flue pack please....


--
Cheers,

John.

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