Do hybrids have a reverse gear?

[thinfourth2]

Not as silly a question as it might sound

Seeing they have 2 things to make them go forwards one being a petrol engine and an electric motor, surely the logical thing would be to use the electric motor which is easily reversible to go backwards instead of adding extra oily bits in the gearbox.

And if they do have a reverse gear why surely it would be simplier to use the motor

[Nash_wrx]

Yes they do, been on a prius recently and it Had Reverse on it

[navanman]

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

[saaby93]

AFAIK

The Prius does use one of its electric motors to drive the car backwards as described.
Honda have their motor at the same place as the clutch so driving the motor backwards would turn the pertol engine backwards, so they have a reverse gear to allow for either.

[thinfourth2]

navanman said:

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say

[w4ndl]

Lexus and Toyota hybrid use only the electric motor in reverse unless battery is flat.

[DaveL86]

Surely reverse is just translated by the gearbox so even though the car my go backwards the engine or motor is still driving the 'normal' way.

[saaby93]

DaveL86 said:

Surely reverse is just translated by the gearbox so even though the car my go backwards the engine or motor is still driving the 'normal' way.

not in the Prius as it doesnt have a gearbox as such

I thought this was a motoring website!

[Save Ferris]

The Prius has a CVT gearbox, and as said above, unless the battery is low will run in electric while reversing.

[navanman]

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say
[/quote]

does the petrol engine not charge the motor so if the engine was dead then it would be stationary anyway,, hence easier to link it to the petrol,, only thinking aloud though

after reading the rest of the thread it makes sence to me now

Edited by navanman on Saturday 10th October 19:45

[saaby93]

In takes good care of the battery so if its low it will start the petrol engine to put some charge in it while reversing AFAIK

Looks like we need a separate forum on how hybrids work?

[saaby93]

Here we go
http://eahart.com/prius/psd/
Half way down you can slide control the speed of MG2 and the Internal Combustion Engine
By taking MG2 down you get reverse MPH and can add in some ICE to charge the battery

Edited by saaby93 on Saturday 10th October 20:36

[mybrainhurts]

saaby93 said:

Looks like we need a separate forum on how hybrids work to kill hybrids?

EFA...

[mybrainhurts]

These didn't have a reverse gear.

If you parked too close to a wall, you tended to die after a few days.

[DaveL86]

mybrainhurts said:

If you parked too close to a wall, you tended to die after a few days.

Haha, although looking at the picture the roof has an escape feature

EDIT:

Actually the roof is probably like that to accommodate people over 3ft tall.

Edited by DaveL86 on Sunday 11th October 01:49

[Checkmate]

mybrainhurts said:

saaby93 said:

Looks like we need a separate forum on how hybrids work to kill hybrids?

EFA...

Know your enemy.

[Hendry]

thinfourth2 said:

navanman said:

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say

It's not that silly. Running out of battery is a likely ocurrence on every journey. Not being able to find a petrol station, less so.

And what's all this mash about the Prius not having a gear box from others? Of course it has a gear box! The engine/motor speed doesn't directly translate to road speed because... It goes through a system of gearing. CVT in this case.

[Ed.]

Hendry said:

thinfourth2 said:

navanman said:

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say

It's not that silly. Running out of battery is a likely ocurrence on every journey. Not being able to find a petrol station, less so.

And what's all this mash about the Prius not having a gear box from others? Of course it has a gear box! The engine/motor speed doesn't directly translate to road speed because... It goes through a system of gearing. CVT in this case.

The CVT does not have a reverse gear though, the car is reversed by switching polarity on the electic motor, if the battery is dead the engine is started to make power to power the the electric motor.

[MrTrilby]

Hendry said:

thinfourth2 said:

navanman said:

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say

It's not that silly. Running out of battery is a likely ocurrence on every journey. Not being able to find a petrol station, less so.
.

Not it's not. The Prius is only ever going to run out of battery power if something is catastrophically broken on it, and most cars tend to stop working when something breaks catastrophically. The Prius categorically will not let you run the battery down below 40% of charge - as soon as you hit that point the petrol engine fires up to start charging it. You'll run out of petrol before you run out of battery charge.

[balls-out]

MrTrilby said:

Hendry said:

thinfourth2 said:

navanman said:

but if the electric motor is dead then there is no reverse,,,

Well if the engine is dead then there is reverse either so that is a silly thing to say

It's not that silly. Running out of battery is a likely ocurrence on every journey. Not being able to find a petrol station, less so.
.

Not it's not. The Prius is only ever going to run out of battery power if something is catastrophically broken on it, and most cars tend to stop working when something breaks catastrophically. The Prius categorically will not let you run the battery down below 40% of charge - as soon as you hit that point the petrol engine fires up to start charging it. You'll run out of petrol before you run out of battery charge.

I know its not the point, but I would love it when a prius driver runs out of petrol....