lolder Report post Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) The cars are always using a little EV. It's the amount that matters. I have a straight flat highway with a 50 mph limit in Naples, FL. Except it's not flat. Down here, instead of crowning some roads for runoff, they undulate it. The road goes up and down about 1 1/2 feet every few hundred yards. Most people don't notice it and if they do they think it's sloppy construction. It's not, it's planned as at each low point there are drain culverts at the roadside. As I traverse these roads in my 2010 on cruise control, EV charges and discharges very slightly with the grade change. It's important enough to keep the ICE at a steady load and operating condition that they use EV to smooth it out. It's when you get a complete round trip through the EV path of generate-charge-discharge-motor that the big losses occur. They are about 30% in Gen1 and are probably only about 20% in Gen 2. So when the 35% maximum ICE efficiency drops 30% ( 10.5% ) to about 25%, that's the threshold point to begin using full EV cycling. Edited July 19, 2014 by lolder 1 hybridbear reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites