Hybrid Vehicles

[rob_s]

Interesting. My 2006 RX (similar curb weight to your Highlander?) does much better at city speeds than highway. In fact when we travel to RI for instance, where the roads are tighter and basically force slower driving speeds, our MPG shoots up from the mid 20s to the mid 30s. Of course there is less stop and go, but I find that our IC engine usually shuts off in that kind of driving as well.

When we got to Oslo, I thought something was wrong with our rental Volvo V90 T8. It was dead silent in city driving, evidently using only the electric motor. Was pretty cool to have this big black "luxury" wagon creeping silently down the street.

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Next year the highlander is going to be hybrid only according to a sales person. Also if Im not mistaken Toyota has a 100,000 mile warranty on the hybrid part.

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I'd stay away from Volvo due to their poor reliability:

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Most Toyota/Lexus hybrids are slower than their gas counterparts and "performance hybrid" seems like an oxymoron to me, but Porsche is developing a 911 hybrid, Lexus has the LC500h, and Acura has the NSX.


I'm relatively satisfied with my 200k prius as a commuter & for urban camo, but performance it has not...

Corolla is coming out in hybrid. Gas mileage is supposed to be in the Prius range. I just drove a 2017 and it has an amazing amount of room inside and despite reviews dismissive of acceleration I thought it did just fine.

[Jim Watson]

The most reliable hybrids should be the ones that use the internal combustion motor to charge the battery that runs the wheel motors. .

Makes sense to me, what I call the Locomotive system. But who builds an auto like that?

The Honda Clarity pluggable makes sense to me, just on the specs, haven't driven one. Claimed 46 miles electric (C&D got 42) would do a lot of my driving without gas consumption.

[farscott]

Makes sense to me, what I call the Locomotive system. But who builds an auto like that?

The Honda Clarity pluggable makes sense to me, just on the specs, haven't driven one. Claimed 46 miles electric (C&D got 42) would do a lot of my driving without gas consumption.

The BMW i3 Range Extender is one example.

[BN]

I drove a older loaner hybrid Camry when I got the airbag recall done on my Sienna. It was about a 45 minute drive each way to home. It didn't have much gas and the low fuel light was on before I got back to the dealer. I was wondering if they ran on just the electric if they ran out of gas.

[rob_s]

The most reliable hybrids should be the ones that use the internal combustion motor to charge the battery that runs the wheel motors.

Makes sense to me, what I call the Locomotive system. But who builds an auto like that?

not sure if this is what you guys mean or not (and not to keep going back to the Volvo, it's just the only one I've driven) but the V90 T8 could either be charged from a wall or by the gas engine. Until we got to Oslo I had no way of charging other than to hit the button in the infotainment that allowed the battery to charge while driving (which I think was also using regenerative braking).

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The BMW i3 Range Extender is one example.

But its not completely charging the battery. It only extends the range 170 miles I think. I think the best set up would be a generator that gives indefinite range. Maybe this would be especially suited for a diesel application. The other thing is the I3 uses a heat pump for heating and cooling. I wonder how well this would fare in really cold weather.

[0ddl0t]

When we got to Oslo, I thought something was wrong with our rental Volvo V90 T8. It was dead silent in city driving, evidently using only the electric motor. Was pretty cool to have this big black "luxury" wagon creeping silently down the street.

It really is amazing how smooth & quiet a car can be on electric-only. I now find it mildly jarring when my prius' engine starts to charge the battery while sitting at a stop light.

Interesting. My 2006 RX (similar curb weight to your Highlander?) does much better at city speeds than highway. In fact when we travel to RI for instance, where the roads are tighter and basically force slower driving speeds, our MPG shoots up from the mid 20s to the mid 30s. Of course there is less stop and go, but I find that our IC engine usually shuts off in that kind of driving as well.

They generally do better in the city than highway, but they also experience a very large decline in cold weather. My prius will get over 60mpg if I'm cruising at 35mph on a 70° day, but less than 50mpg if it is 20° - even on the same blend of gasoline. Running the heater requires the engine to run more often than it otherwise would, and the battery's capacity is less in the cold (especially if the car is parked outside in the elements). Smaller effects include denser air causing more aerodynamic drag and colder air lowering tire pressure.

On a 110° day the A/C lowers mpg to 55 @ 35mph, so excessive heat is not as deleterious as cold. Hypermilers in cold climates often use winter fronts to partially block their grills. Of course, with no OEM temperature gauges you're rolling the dice unless you have a scan gauge or something to make sure you don't start running hot.

[JTQ]

We own a Lexus RX Hybrid that has well over 200K miles on it at this point with extremely minimal issues.

2.5-year owner of a second-hand 2006 Toyota Highlander Limited Hybrid AWD. Had 111k miles on it , now approximately 125k.
Unlike the smaller hybrids, it uses the IC motor fairly often and at lower speeds, with the electric drive being "auxiliary".

I have all records for it since new, and it has been relatively trouble free. Two standard auto batteries in 14 years, and no other electrical gremlins.

Since I know very little about hybrids, I've always wondered how long the drive batteries last, and if they die, what is the repair/replacement cost.