"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Doctor Drivel wrote:

Nope. Wrong again. The power splitter apportions the power from the
petrol and electric motors to give "combined" power and torque from the
two,

The electric motor is directly connected to the rear wheels via the
differential. It is also directly connected to the ring gear of the
planetary set. The engine is directly connected to the planetary
carrier, the generator to the sun gear.

So, as you claim, this is a fixed gear box

Once again not agearbox, not box of gear stepping up and down ratios, just a
fixed, meshed, reduction gear.

what prevents the electric
motor turning the engine when it's off?

The electric motor always has power to it, either via the genny (via the
petrol motor) or) or the battery, or both. When the engine is off? When
the electric motor is turning and the petrol motor is off the electric motor
is off the batteries. AS the genny will put no load on the power splitter
the engine will be decoupled. Bring in load from the genny (power from the
petrol motor to the electric motor) an the power splitter locks into the
motor and spins it. See the graphic that Paul posted and this little
drawing:
http://www.toyota.co.za/technology/h...gy_description
..aspx?id=477&dontslide=1

Relate one to the other. The Honda has a full belt and pullied CVT, which
is far more complex that the Toyota. the Toyota is miles ahead of all
others by removing an in-line, in series, stepped or bellted ratioed
gearbox. That is why all are adopting the Toyota setup. It saves space and
weight. It is even simpler than a normal ICE/auto tranny setup. They are
joy to drive, and one of the reasons I chose it. Anyone who gets rid of
gearboxes have my vote.

Put in a large set of high efficiency batteries, and the Toyota has spare
capacity in the battery bay, and this beauty will take off big time.
Batteries will drop in price as production increases. All you need do is add
to, or replace, the batteries, then the mpg rises to unbelievable figurers
when a charging plug is also added.