Titanium48
Well-known member
GRA said:Titanium48 said:<snip>
My conclusion is that manufacturers really need to reinvent the PHEV in the form of an SUV with a decent towing capacity.
That's the only realistic short-term PEV solution. Unfortunately, we continue to see PHEVs only being offered in 2WD - the new Escape Hybrid will be offered in both 2 or 4WD, but not the PHEV. We can only hope that a PHEV RAV4 will be offered both ways. Of course, keeping the weight down for towing requires a fairly small pack and AER, so you have to wonder if it's even worth going beyond an HEV.
The Mitsubishi Outlander uses a rear electric motor for AWD, but a 1500 lb towing capacity is less than half of the ICE version and insufficient for anything bigger than a PWC.
Excess weight certainly hurts performance and energy efficiency, but it is not all bad when towing as the heavier the tow vehicle the easier it is to keep the trailer under control.
There are potential advantages of a PHEV over a standard hybrid beyond the ability to make short trips without burning any gasoline. With 20-30 kWh of batteries and sufficiently powerful electric motors for a decently performing EV mode, you could shrink the ICE substantially and draw on the batteries for acceleration and hill climbing. The ICE could then be operated at or near maximum efficiency all of the time instead of throttling to match demand.