Self Charging Hybrid benefits??

nick74

I find ours (Toyota 1.8 hybrid) to have comparable MPG with a similarly sized diesel. Perhaps slightly poorer fuel economy than a diesel on long motorway runs, but way better than a diesel in stop-start city driving. They are far from a con in my opinion. 

bhjm

"self charging hybrid" is for me more an marketing trick than the reality.
first of all, you need to find out how do they "charge" . If the Electric energy is recuperated i.e. by braking - then basically every hybrid would be self charging. There is no car known to me, which has a battery which only be charged externally without an internal generator of some kind. 

hybrid vehicle can be driven on electric energy alone, it does not depends on if they are "self charging" or not - it depends on the kind of hybrid, mild Hybrid - full hybrid etc.

a real self charging hybrid - is actually fairly uncommon . ie.my prius plugin has a "charging" mode, where the engine itself runs and drives one of the 2 motor generator to produce electricity and this will be stored in the big battery pack (By far bigger than the normal prius hybrid modell, they dont have this charging mode)

NBLondon

I agree - it's a marketing term when a better phrase is "not plug-in".  As said above, for some people - that's a big factor.   The difference between mild hybrid and full hybrid probably passes many people by and I'd guess that the question "What tax bracket is it in?" is often more important than "Can it drive on electric power alone?"

ontheroad1970

I rented a Toyota Auris Hybrid in Italy a few years ago.  It was brilliant on fuel.  I drove lots but only filled the tank twice in two weeks of mixed driving, including crossing Italy from West to East.  It was boring to drive though.

ComicGeek

My wife has a mild hybrid - not bought because of that, and seems a pointless addition in my view.

I have a self charging 4x4 hybrid which has fuel efficiency much higher than the equivalent diesel/petrol versions. Yes, I could get better mpg with a smaller car etc, but this gives me the highest mpg for the type of vehicle I need for work without being full electric. I can also get 600 miles from a tank of fuel, which is one of the biggest benefits of the hybrid element of car, and some local journeys I can do mainly on electric only.

AdrianC

ontheroad1970 said:

I rented a Toyota Auris Hybrid in Italy a few years ago.  It was brilliant on fuel.  I drove lots but only filled the tank twice in two weeks of mixed driving, including crossing Italy from West to East.  It was boring to drive though.

We rented an Auris hybrid in Sweden a few years back. It was thoroughly mediocre on fuel. It aspired to boring to drive, and fell short.

bhjm

ComicGeek said:

My wife has a mild hybrid - not bought because of that, and seems a pointless addition in my view.

I have a self charging 4x4 hybrid which has fuel efficiency much higher than the equivalent diesel/petrol versions. Yes, I could get better mpg with a smaller car etc, but this gives me the highest mpg for the type of vehicle I need for work without being full electric. I can also get 600 miles from a tank of fuel, which is one of the biggest benefits of the hybrid element of car, and some local journeys I can do mainly on electric only.

so you bought a PHEV i guess.
And although its marketed as 4x4 - its more an AWD rather than a fully equipped 4x4. Neither the Rav 4 nor the Outlander are real 4x4.
and both are not "self charging hybrids" - they are plugin in vehicles, while the outlanders engine is more a kind of a range extender, the rav for is more kind of a full hybrid, basically its a bigger prius engine with a bigger battery pack.

gzoom

Toyota hybrids use the atkinson combustion cycle which is far more efficient the normal otto combustion cycle, however the atkinson cycle has big torque deficits which the EV motor is used to cover up.  
The thermal efficiency of Toyota hybrids are now not far off diesel, and far above that of normal combustion engines. 

https://www.sae.org/news/2018/04/toyota-unveils-more-new-gasoline-ices-with-40-thermal-efficiency
https://blog.toyota.co.uk/toyota-use-atkinson-cycle-engines

Our Toyota hybrid which produces a peak power of just over 200bhp is nearly as efficient as our old 2.2TDI Honda, which was slower and a smaller car. However as ever the efficiency of any car is up to the driver, drive them without care and you will see poor mpg, drive them well and you get close to diesel efficiency but without worries about DPF/turbos etc.

They also run and run with no issues, there is a reason why nearly every private hire car is now a Toyota hybrid of some kind.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/02/the-200-000-mile-question-how-does-the-toyota-prius-hold-up/index.htm

StoicLass

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Stubod said:

..as I thought then, largely a bit of a "con" to meet some arbitrary targets?

I would think in general use any "savings" more than offset by the resources used to make and maintain the extra bits in the first place?

I think a lot of the problem is that full hybrids have a lot of bottom end torque and are automatic, leading most to adopt the typically modern uneconomical driving style.  The best thing to do to save petrol, which nobody seems that interested in these days, is to conserve momentum where possible.  Try to keep the car moving by anticipating hazards, slowing down early and looking out for gaps.  You know what I mean.  Older cars, which are often underpowered, encourage such a driving style.  Manual gearboxes also help with doing it, as they make engine braking and acceleration planning much easier.  
Newer cars, and newer drivers, adopt a different method: don't bother about anticipation, slam the brakes on whenever you feel like it and floor the accelerator to get back up to speed.  You see it around town; I blame diesels and their fast acceleration up to 30 mph.  Nobody bothers to look for gaps or opportunities to keep rolling, nobody cares about cornering speeds; it's all just lost in this constant need for straight line performance and the pretence that one is at Santa Pod.  It's not even a particularly fast way of driving; one can do better in a small hatchback if one pays attention.  
Hybrids, unfortunately, are king when it comes to this sort of thing.  I think that most drivers would get better economy from the things if they actually cared about how they drove them.  

I recently bought a Toyota Corolla self-charging hybrid, and it has completely changed my driving style, along with reading about fuel-efficient tips on the hypermiler website, in line with what you’ve described. I was most definitely a fast acceleration, late braking kind of driver. Now I use the eco dashboard in the Corolla to guide my driving, and it’s basically all about slow, smooth acceleration, anticipatory braking etc to get the best out of the hybrid system. 

Ditzy_Mitzy

StoicLass said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Stubod said:

..as I thought then, largely a bit of a "con" to meet some arbitrary targets?

I would think in general use any "savings" more than offset by the resources used to make and maintain the extra bits in the first place?

I think a lot of the problem is that full hybrids have a lot of bottom end torque and are automatic, leading most to adopt the typically modern uneconomical driving style.  The best thing to do to save petrol, which nobody seems that interested in these days, is to conserve momentum where possible.  Try to keep the car moving by anticipating hazards, slowing down early and looking out for gaps.  You know what I mean.  Older cars, which are often underpowered, encourage such a driving style.  Manual gearboxes also help with doing it, as they make engine braking and acceleration planning much easier.  
Newer cars, and newer drivers, adopt a different method: don't bother about anticipation, slam the brakes on whenever you feel like it and floor the accelerator to get back up to speed.  You see it around town; I blame diesels and their fast acceleration up to 30 mph.  Nobody bothers to look for gaps or opportunities to keep rolling, nobody cares about cornering speeds; it's all just lost in this constant need for straight line performance and the pretence that one is at Santa Pod.  It's not even a particularly fast way of driving; one can do better in a small hatchback if one pays attention.  
Hybrids, unfortunately, are king when it comes to this sort of thing.  I think that most drivers would get better economy from the things if they actually cared about how they drove them.  

I recently bought a Toyota Corolla self-charging hybrid, and it has completely changed my driving style, along with reading about fuel-efficient tips on the hypermiler website, in line with what you’ve described. I was most definitely a fast acceleration, late braking kind of driver. Now I use the eco dashboard in the Corolla to guide my driving, and it’s basically all about slow, smooth acceleration, anticipatory braking etc to get the best out of the hybrid system. 

Glad to hear that you've got some benefits from hypermiling and hope they continue.  I've been a passenger in a hybrid car with a fast accelerating and heavy braking driver; the hybrid's superior abilities at doing both turned the ride into something akin to being on small boat in a heavy sea and left me feeling extremely sick.  I blame the car rather than being drunk, of course.