On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 12:28:47 +0100, (Steve Firth)
wrote:

The Prius has an automatic gearbox with planetary gears which acts as a
CVT.

That's a dubious statement though. The epicyclic gearing is there as
torque splitter, not as a controllable change in ratio. Effectively
it's an electrically controlled torque converter with additional
external power input (unlike a fluid torque converter) - but that's
really stretching the point to call it a CVT,

The whole point about a Prius is that it's a hybrid. It uses the
electric motor because that just doesn't need a variable speed
transmission (as has been done with electric cars since 1900). The
clever part of the Prius is the use of this transmission to improve the
efficiency of the engine cut-in, compared to previous hybrids.

Just because Drivel drives one doesn't mean that they're a bad idea.


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