[Paul_Moxhay]

I don't know what my V5 says it is but the Ampera is most certainly a hybrid. A hybrid is a car that uses or can use more than one type of fuel or energy store. In the case of the Ampera that is battery and petrol. In fact, if we were to be picky... the Prius isn't a hybrid at all. All non-plugin hybrids get there energy from petrol. OK, they can then store some of it is a battery for use later but all the energy the car uses comes from petrol. So to me, current hybrids are not really dual energy source vehicles. The Ampera is.

In fact, in my opinion, I think it is rather disingenuous of GM to say that the Ampera isn't a hybrid. It completely muddies the waters for the non-techie public.

By any definition of what a hybrid is, the Ampera is one. The question though is what kind of hybrid is it? That is where it gets rather messy.

I shall ignore the fact that current hybrids are not really hybrids at all because my opinion is very much in the minority. The industry seems to accept that the Prius et al are hybrids so I shall run with that for now.

There are several types of hybrid... the most are parallel hybrids where the wheels are driven by an electric motor but are also driven directly by the petrol engine. Then there are serial hybrids where the wheels are driven by the electroc motor all the time and the petrol engine just creates the electricity and does not drive the wheels.

The Ampera is a hybrid hybrid

It is neither a parallel nor a serial but a combination of the two. Most of the time it acts like a serial hybrid with the petrol engine disconnected and not driving the wheels. But at high speed and high load it engages a 3rd clutch and the petrol engine does then directly drive the wheels albeit through a power merging planetary gear system.

So, the Ampera is a hybrid. It is a combination serial/parallel but it is serial most of the time. It is also a ER-EV or Extended Range Electric Vehicle which is simple an electric vehicle that has a range extender generator. ER-EV is what GM want us to call the Ampera and I think that is perhaps the better description because it is probably the most accurate of the descriptions and it is non-technical removing the questions like is it a hybrid? What kind of hybrid? etc.

So short answer... yes, it is a hybrid

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

Very strange the Earth is clasified as petrol and all models are 4 door.

I suspect that is just an administrative error (i.e. cock up!)

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

Yes, your interpretation is the accepted one and I can see that definition makes sense and I must accept that is the accepted definition.

However, I think that it can be looked at another way and that is the source of the energy and I think that is a much better way to look at it. It does then beg the question what would I call a car such as the current model Prius that is a hybrid in the accepted meaning?

Hybrid Drive is what the Prius hybrid system is called and I think that is a good definition.

An Ampera in my eyes might be a hybrid power system.

I would class hybrids that take their motive energy from multiple sources as hybrid drive vehicles (HDVs ?) and those that have multiple external power sources as hybrid power vehicles (HPVs ?)

These are all just my way of looking at it and my classifications and I don't suppose many others see it the same way so I will just have to use the accepted definitions but there is a huge difference and yet we all seem to just lump them all together as hybrids.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

if you look at a Prius it's primary fuel is petrol but, it does technically have a second fuel source, and just because you don't fill it up doesn't mean its not a fuel (just as you don't fill up a solar car) but by exploiting something that all other cars give off to the environment, that being regeneration from the braking energy, there is a second energy store available to the drive-train. albeit a very minor amount in comparison with other duel fuels.

Actually this is not so. The current model Prius only has one fuel source... petrol.

Regen braking is simply recovering kinetic energy (basically speed) or potential energy (hills) and storing it in a battery. The kinetic energy is the energy of movement. Potential energy is the energy gained by going up a hill. Both the Prius and Ampera do that.

The important thing here is where did that kinetic or potential energy from? In a Prius it only comes from petrol. So all that regen braking is doing is storing energy that has come from petrol... it is a single energy (fuel) source. All that is happening is that the regen braking recovers it and store it in a different form... battery instead of wasting it as heat in the mechanical brakes. The energy itself though always comes only from petrol.

The difference between a Prius and an Ampera in this respect is that the Ampera can charge the battery from an external source. It has two energy sources... the grid and petrol. This is an important differentiation that explains why regen braking when you are running on petrol does not show up on the electric range... the energy recovered when running on petrol is not from grid, it is from petrol. It is a subtle difference but an important one.