[OT] Prius bashing

[Doctor Drivel]

That is the "power-splitter", that apportions the power of the two motors which run in parrallel. Read my description on how it works. What you can't understand get back to me.

[:Jerry:]

Not at all, consider the raw materials used to make catalytic converters or the production and disposal problems of electronic components for example.

[Roger]

The message from Adrian contains these words:

The top speed is allegedly 106 mph but what is it when the battery has been flattened by a few miles of high speed motoring?

[Doctor Drivel]

Al Gore was spulled in a Prius doing 100mph.

It doesn't flatten the battery, it doesn't go that low, the management system deals with it all. Isn't that fab!

[Adrian]

Doctor Drivel ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

And when the battery charge is so low that the management won't allow any more to be taken, but not flat (of course, oh, no, not flat) what happens to the maximum speed?

[Andy Hall]

Al Gore pulled at an international conference and the outcome was quite different.

[Doctor Drivel]

The max is 106mph and it will always do it. If below that speed, the engine will charge the battery up to the required levels and still maintain road speed. The surplus in the engine is used to charge. All well thought out. Brilliant indeed, that is why most others have licensed the Toyota system.

[Adrian]

Doctor Drivel ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I doubt it very much. A brief contemplate as to how the system works will show you that it can't.

So you're suggesting that the maximum speed not only doesn't require any power provision from the electric motor, but allows the petrol engine enough spare power to drive the electric motor and charge the batteries?

Less half-arsed than some of the others, yes. But nothing very new.

Go on, who?

[Doctor Drivel]

You made that up.

Do a Google. Ford for one.

[Adrian]

Doctor Drivel ( [e-mail]) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I'll take that as an "I'm too stubborn to admit I'm wrong and you're right", shall I?

No, Ford independently developed a system that's very similar, and to be on the safe side did a licence swap with some emission related patents they held.

Would you like to comment on the court cases with Antonov, perhaps?

[Julian]

Sorry, can't see a good place to push in, so here's as good a place as any :-)

I wonder what the residual values of the P will be like when they get to say

5-7 years old? You'll have to be very brave to take one on IMHO. New cells (how many!?) or bsuggered motors in the transaxle or duff CVT are going to cost more than the car's worth... I'll bet some company, before long, offers an engine/box transplant from (say) a Focus, or finds a way of running it on engine power alone with no batteries...

Also It's not obvious to me why they just didn't adopt a drivetrain similar to that as used on a Diesel electric submarine. As it is now it seems huge complication for little gain.

Julian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

*MARKETING*.

It has to be radically 'wunderfool' to allw the suits to prattle on about it, and lend credence to its spurious green potential.

hat you must shake off, is that stuff has to be different, it just has to be *perceived* as different.

Like Tony Bliar. A gutless Thatcherite at core. But everyone thought he was Laber.

[Doctor Drivel]

Good. It has been around for 10 years in two forms.

The batteries, elec motor and power-splitter, are guaranteed for 8 years, with a 12 years expected life on batteries and 20 plus on other components.

So at 12 years, say if the it needs battery set that is no more than, and in

12 years probably a hell of a lot cheaper with superior batteries, than say a gbox replacement on a crap normal car. The batteries in 12 years time will be cheaper and far superior to the current crop of batteries, also the Pius has a large battery compartment which the set does not fully occupy. It was supposed to have a large battery set. There was shortage of batteries at the time so they cut down. Fill the compartment with superior cells and the thing will sing. Give it a mains charge adaptor, as in CalCars in California, and voila!

I doubt it as it has fewer and simpler components than a normal car. The Prius is the most reliable car in the world. Ask JD Power.

The Prius is NOT complicated, when the basics of operation is known; read my description it is not difficult. It is SIMPLE. Put a rotary engine in it and simpler again. In 5 years time put a new Lith Poly battery set in to fill the battery bay and a mains charger and the car sings

There are numerous hybrids now, especially in the USA and Japan. Expect them to get better and better. The best is yet to come. And you will say in

6 years time, that Dr Drivel was right. ..and naturally fell a right prat.

[Andy Hall]

Would you prefer that we use an axe or a chainsaw ?

[Bob Eager]

What you have to remember is that Drivel is either:

a) an idiot schoolboy with motoring and plumbing fantasies, or b) a badly implemented Eliza-type program (type into Google if you don't know)

My favourite is (b), but it's a pretty basic implementation. It pastes in random publicity blurbs from boiler manufacturers and car manufacturers, and its fallback (if it can't understand, or has no answer) is to truncate the previous posting after one word and insert "please eff off as you are a plantpot". It does this a lot, as it's very poor quality software.

[Doctor Drivel]

What do you normally use?

[Doctor Drivel]

This man is a plantpot.

[Roger]

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Thanks for following that up Adrian. Dribble lives permanently in my killfile these days but I do treasure the occasional sight of the stupidest man in the country demonstrating to one and (almost) all that he is too stupid to understand concepts that a bright 5 year old could master with a little bit of tuition.

[Doctor Drivel]

You still made it up.

Balls!

[Bob Eager]

Q.E.D. It doesn't take much to confuse the software.