Peter H. Granzeau wrote: >> That's what trains and many busses are. They just don't turn off >> all the way. > > Trains use Diesel to turn a generator; the actual drive to the wheels > is electric motors. Busses use Diesel via an automatic transmission. There are hybrid busses too. That's why I added the qualifier. > In either case, the engine idles when the vehicle is temporarily > stopped. Gasoline hybrids don't do that, when the car is at rest, the > engine is stopped. That's what I said. >> Googling, I see that current prototypes of cars such as the Civic >> hybrid aren't much more efficient than gasoline models, and not as >> efficient as natural gas. But diesel is available at the pumps. >> >> When you need to charge batteries, a constantly running generator has >> advantages over one that starts and stops a lot. > > Nevertheless, that's not how hybrids do it. The battery pack is > charged only while the car is in motion. When a stopped car starts > up, the battery is the sole source of power for a few seconds. Some > small amount of electricity is recovered when the brakes are applied > (I forget the term for this). I suspect that's not how hybrid diesel cars will do it. We'll see.