Everyone thinks hybrid cars are good and they are in general correct. The problem today is hybrid car Hybrid Autos are Designed Backward.

Hybrid vehicles are touted as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. However, they’re often designed with inefficiencies that limit their supposed environmental benefits. In this analysis, I explore how hybrid vehicles are flawed and what can be improved.

The Internal Combustion Engine Mindset

Everyone thinks hybrid cars are good, and they are generally correct. The problem today is that hybrid car designs are backward, limiting their environmental benefits. Why? Almost every car company started with the internal combustion engine (ICE). When they create a hybrid, they focus on adding batteries and an electric motor to an ICE-based car.

Hybrid goals are fuel efficiency and saving the environment. But people don’t want to sacrifice performance and convenience. Having a hybrid with a 4.5-liter V8 engine is crap as a good environmental custodian.

The latest electric vehicles (EVs) meet our expectations in terms of performance and convenience. A Tesla can out-accelerate some of the highest-performance muscle cars with a V8 ICE. The biggest problems people complain about are the range of the EV and the initial cost. I don’t think the range is a real issue for most people, it is a perception that there is a problem.

How Much Power Does an EV Use to Move?

The small Nissan Leaf has an EPA range of up to 149 miles with a 40kWh battery. That equates to an average of 0.27 kWh (power) per mile driven. 40(kWh)/149(Mile) = 0.2685 kWh/Mile.

Starting with the power requirements for an EV to operate. We divide the battery capacity by the car’s listed range. Like we did above with the Nissan Leaf 40kWh/149 miles = 0.2685 kWh/mile. Looking online, the average power consumption listed across EV models, we get a range of 0.24 kWh to 0.87 kWh per mile. From <https://ecocostsavings.com/electric-car-kwh-per-mile-list/>

For this discussion, I will use 0.35 kWh per mile. To give another reference, one horsepower is 0.74569 KW. If used for over one hour, that is 0.74569 kWh. This means the average EV uses (on average) about 1/2 of one horsepower to drive around.

The lowest horsepower car I found online was a 2019 Mitsubishi. It has 78 horsepower. That is 78/0.5 or 156 times the average horsepower needed to move an EV car. This is the average driving power, not the power needed to speed up a car. EV cars include the need for acceleration in the average power usage. I use that to say the actual power needed when cruising is less than the average listed.

What is Your Commute Distance?

The average commute mileage I could find is 41 miles round trip. The lowest configuration version of the Leaf can commute for three days before needing a recharge. I don’t view three days of driving as a reason to claim range as a problem. Those three days allow about 1/2 day of power to deal with rush hour issues. [11kWh] 40/11 = 3.6364. Every night, at home, the car can charge with an extension cord.

Applying the same range logic to a gasoline car would be: I drive far enough to have to fill my tank every day. If you drive your gasoline car for several days before refueling, why isn’t the EV given the same consideration?

Another argument is that I can’t use an EV because I need to go long distances for the holidays. That is a choice you make when you decide on a vehicle. You don’t try to pull a 20-foot 5th-wheel trailer with a BMW Mini. You wouldn’t use a flatbed truck to drive the kids to soccer practice. No one vehicle will fulfil every driving need, so why must an EV?

The recommendation for driving trips is to plan for 200 to 300 miles daily. That is easily within the range of most EV cars. You will have to plan (this is the impossible part) where you stop for charging.

Why Are They Designed Backward?

How did we get here? In 1860 Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir patented the internal combustion engine. In 1908 Henry Ford changed our interaction with the horseless carriage. At its peak, the Model T production line produced a new car every 12 seconds. The first step of the assembly line is installing an ICE into the car’s frame. Today, it is not the first step, but it is close. All the thinking starts with an engine and building a car around it.

So how do you design a hybrid? Let’s take an ICE-based car and add an electric motor and a battery. The Internal combustion engine is still the key. The ICE is one of the most expensive components but is also the key to energy, power, and motion generation. Making the ICE the center of the design becomes the main problem. The focus on ICE is preventing real innovation and improvements in mileage. Now let’s think about a backward hybrid design that solves these problems.

How Should a Hybrid be Designed?

Don’t start with an internal combustion engine; add batteries and a motor. Start with an EV and add a BATTERY CHARGER. The battery charger must provide enough power to charge the batteries while the vehicle moves.

Use the batteries to speed up and cruise while driving. Charge the batteries using the battery charger, which is always running at peak efficiency. This will extend the vehicle’s range while gaining the benefits of the EV.

Why Don’t Car Companies Do This?

I will use a different industry example to explain why car companies don’t do this. Established companies may not transition and fail when a fundamental technology shift occurs. One of the clearest examples in history started in the 1980s. At that time, Kodak was the top photography company. They dominated in all areas of photography and created some of the first patents for digital photography.

The company culture was chemical film. When digital photography battled for resources, it lost. Now Kodak is trying to survive. Today chemical film is a very small niche product. Others now control digital photography which Kodak could have dominated.

Now take a car company built on an internal combustion engine and tell them to make a hybrid or an EV. That company will have the same internal cultural issues as Kodak.

There is some goodness to talk about. Full EV companies like Tesla show what is possible if you don’t start with an ICE as your core, your culture. Also, Ford CEO Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) has split the company into two divisions. A group focused on EVs allows the team to design cars without requiring the ICE.

Think about a car designed as an EV with a 1kW engine and generator combo. Have a fuel tank that will drive 500 miles. You now have a car with a 200-mile range on the battery and a 500-mile range on the gasoline. 700 miles with no sacrifice for convenience or comfort for your long trips. Quick refueling at stations that already exist. You may only fill up your tank when you travel for long trips.

Today, car companies design hybrids backward. Every car company can choose to change its approach and create a car that meets customer requirements for efficiency, environmental needs, and convenience.