You said:
“A full size truck would be a huge seller likely far out selling the Volt. What were the 2 top selling Vehicles in 2008?????? Fullsize PUs.”

Reality replies:
What are the worst sellers in 2009, based on just out February numbers? Fullsize PUs. Ford F-series pickup trucks are down 55%, 22% worse than the Prius.

What worked for product mix yesterday does not work today. What works for product mix today will not work tomorrow. Regardless, electric drive is always most efficient.

“Minor” improvements in the context I was speaking was regarding one generation HEV Prius to the next and betweeen one generation PHEV Prius to the next. Certainly even today’s Prius compared to your 25mpg ICE will be a significant improvement, reducing your annual consumption from 400 gallons to just over 200 gallons. I hope you are correct about the further reduction to less than 100. We’ll have to know a lot more detail on the plug-in Prius before we could make those kind of predictions.

John1701a,

Yes HSD, mea culpa. My comments regarding decoupling the engine are in regards to the implementation HSD. As long as the ICE is utilized as a mechanical power source, there will be a requirement for a power split mechanism of some sort and power requirements on the engine that limit the ICE technology that can be used. By decoupling, I meant removing the ICE from direct mechanical propulsion.

No, it doesn’t just boil down to price & MPG. That is a drastic oversimplification of what drives sales and completely ignores technological trends. There would be very little innovation or advancement in technologies if it only boiled down to the first generation’s price and one performance component.

From the article linked by van: “EV mode helps keep the vehicle in electric-only operation for up to about 1 mile at speeds less than 25 mph”

I agree. I represent a major supplier at a large aerospace company and I can tell you that if I sent a scathing letter to my customer’s management, I’d certainly be fired on the spot. Regardless of whether they are true or warranted, such statements make the supplier’s company look bad in the eyes of the decision-makers, and could cost future business (which is hard enough to find right now).

No, you shouldn’t, since it’s HSD.

As for that assessment, it doesn’t make sense. The ICE is already decoupled. When MG2 (the big electric motor) operates in both EV mode and Stealth, the ICE remains stationary. And when the ICE does spin, what does it matter? That use of the word “good” is so terribly vague it could mean anything.

Put another way, it’s going to boil down to Price & MPG based upon judgment of real-world data by consumers, not estimates from enthusiasts.

With the ICE off, the HSD allows pure electric propulsion up to about 60 miles per hour. So it should allow a Prius with a 4-6 KWh battery to
not burn a drop of gas for 2/3rd of my driving pattern.

And my current car gets 30 miles per gallon on my trips to Phoenix, whereas the Prius will get 50. I suppose that could be called a minor improvement.

In sum, my car gets 25 mpg overall, and therefore I burn 400 gallons of gas a year. If the Plug-in Prius meets my expectations, and that is a huge if, I will burn less than 100 gallons of gas in a year.

Don’t get me wrong. The Prius, or I should say HSG, is better suited than any other technology in mass production today. 10 miles AER and under will work OK with today’s batteries. Actually, I think it would work better for the Highlander and Lexus SUV rather than the Prius as far as real value add is concerned. My contention was that improvements in the ICE will be minor and iterative. Futher battery technology improvements will only bring minor improvements to the HSG PHEV value proposition. I am anxious to see what Toyota comes out with and just about any well thought implementation of a PHEV HSG will be a good thing, but I don’t if we’ll ever be able to quantify which implementation is a better technology driver.