41 MPG city Fusion Hybrid more efficient than Camry Hybrid's 33 MPG (2025 Update)

Elmo, go back and READ what I WROTE! I'm not talking about going back to a 2 speed powerglide. I'm not even talking about using a different transmission, just simplify the existing one which will make it lighter. And yes I have looked into the transmission. My dad had a Sears & Roebuck lawn tractor back in the 60's that had a transmission very similar to what Toyota uses in their hybrids.

Jack j

No No NO. You're still wrong. Using the AC means that the energy has to come from somewhere and that's from either the batteries, the regen braking, or the ICE. If you're using the batteries to power the AC, the gas motor has to charge them to replenish them. If you're using regen braking to run the AC, then the batteries aren't being charged by the regen braking. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

I'm not saying the Prius isn't very efficient, but you're sadly mistaken if you believe that you can use the AC and not have it affect the mileage. the energy required to operate the AC doesn't come from the AC fairy, it comes from GASOLINE.

Ray, You might want to look at this link. Much good reading here that explains a lot.

jeff

I'll try one more time Tomes and then I'm done. Ray or someone else can take over.

If you take energy out of the battery to run the AC it will discharge the battery. The battery is recharged by running the gasoline engine. The gasoline engine supplies ALL of the power used by the car, even the power that is reclaimed by regenerative braking. The more current you pull out of the battery, the more often you need to recharge it and the more often the engine will run (regenerative braking can't supply anywhere near all of the power needs of the car).

Think of it this way. If a light bulb burns out in a ceiling light in your home, do you change it by step into a bucket and pull up on the bale until you're high enough off the floor to reach the bulb? Of course not and the same holds true for your car, you will never reach the top of a hill by engaging regenerative braking to supply the power needed to climb the hill. If the battery can't supply enough power, the gas engine starts and supplies the needed power to both climb the hill and recharge the battery. Regenerative braking going down the other side of the hill merely reclaims a small percentage of the energy used to climb the hill.

All cars have an energy budget that it can never exceed. That budget is the energy contained in a tank of gas. It takes more power to go fast and going fast uses up your energy budget faster than going slower. Turn on the rear window defogger and the alternator supplies more current to the electrical system to power the defogger. It supplies this current by drawing more power from the engine which makes the engine work harder and use more gasoline. Same for the AC, turn it on and the compressor draws power from the engine to compress the freon (or whatever your system uses) making the engine use more gasoline to supply the power. Anything which makes the engine work harder uses up your energy budget faster and it doesn't make any difference if you have a big, high voltage battery and electric motor in the equation or not.

Jack j

Well, that part I will heartily disagree with.

The battery buffer and electric AC are a much more efficient way to use that energy than, say, how a standard car does it.