Is it possible that future e-vehicle applications will come from China and India first and migrate to North America 5 to 10 years latter?

Many maintain that the power shift has already started. History is repeating itself. As one empire declines another goes up.

i suppose i shouldn't be surprised that diesel hybrids are first appearing in expensive, heavy SUVs; the powertrain is too expensive to be economically viable in a supermini or subcompact vehicle. ironically, hybrid technology is being used to make SUVs more environmentally acceptable, rather than making already efficient cars even more efficient. so no 100mpg car, but fewer 15mpg SUVs? a devil's bargain?

TSD ??? LOL From Prius_Stuff #15705 Feb '06 I posted

PSD a Misnomer ?

It doesn't help when Toyota refers to the MG1/MG2/ICE coupler as a power split device when it is in fact a torque split device.
Since the ring gear has 78 teeth and the sun has 30, then every 2.6 lb-ft from the ICE needs to be fulcrummed out with 1lb-ft of backforce torque from MG1.

Yes, the PSD is more correctly a TSD
with the linking equation
MG1 (RPM) = 3.6 X ICE (RPM) - 2.6 X MG2 (RPM)

The post continues on to explain the TSD advantage in quantitative terms. That the effective torque of the atkinsonised engine is 82lbs-ft of which 72% is added to the 295lbs-ft from MG2. If, for comparison purposes, we then normalize that figure to what it would need to be coming from a conventional engine in first gear we get the value of 141 lbs-ft.
The unmodified engine as found in a Yaris gives only 105lbs-ft, which shows the efficacy of the PSD er... I mean the TSD in operation.
T2

I saw a chart where a small DI turbo gasoline engine with hybrid motor had a better torque curve than a larger V6. There are ways that the U.S. auto industry can get up on the curve but it is always years away, if ever.

Having made my comment on the TSD and looking closer and with the few details described, I have to say this looks more like a BAS hybrid. This design is clearly a low cost retrofit on to an existing RWD chassis. Otherwise you would know better than to be using RWD if efficiency was a serious goal. Are they incorporating just one single motor/generator to add or subtract power at the propshaft - the image is not too clear ? Anyway this form of torque splitting is nowhere near as sophisticated as Toyota's HSD where you can subtract power continuously from the engine shaft using MG1 as a generator and force the engine to work at artificially high torque levels, while simultaneously using that generated power to run the main traction motor, MG2.

Now, ideally you would want to place the MG unit used here after the clutch and before the transmission. That way you avoid the mistake of Honda's IMA system where the MG being located beside the engine was forced to turn the engine over while in pure electric mode. Furthermore IMA requires reverse to be accomplished mechanically in the gearbox or else have the engine be turning backwards. Driving the prop shaft is somewhat drastic, as looks to be done here, sure it gets you to the other side of the clutch which is preferable but it also gets you to the output side of the gearbox and that means you forgo the useful ability for further torque amplification before the propshaft. I suspect its omission would be compensated by using the belt coupling from the MG to the prop shaft with something like a 2:1 ratio - I'm guessing.

When I see systems like this I get the feeling that there are a lot of people out there with no idea what they are doing. If the chinese bought into this I think they are ripe for another technology I have in mind. We should send somebody over there. Hey guys we've got this whole new idea for an economy based on a new form of energy. Yeah, you'll never guess, HYDROGEN, yeah that's right, what do you think ...it's all the rage where we come from........
T2

Honda IMA was designed for start/stop, regen and boost. It was not intended to run the car in EV mode. Considering the mileage that a Civic hybrid gets with less complexity, I would say that they did a good job achieving their goals.

That is a matter of opinion because this is what Honda did with the Civic Hybrid : -
They installed one of their L series engines which were not fitted to any other of their North American vehicles at the time. You should know that normally Civics have engines equipped with performance VTEC valve trains. So the HCH inherits a 1.3L i-DSi ( L13A i-DSi ) which happens to be a high efficiency SOHC engine with two valves per cylinder and also two spark plugs per cylinder for lower emissions. Rated 86 HP @ 5700 rpm and with max torque of 88 lb.-ft @ 2800 rpm. So first, you'll agree, they began with a limited availability downsized engine.
But that's not all. Later on when the Honda Civic Hybrid was compared to the non-hybrid Civic LX fitted with the larger 1.7L (D17A1} engine it was discovered that despite the superior bottom end torque afforded by the IMA system on paper, the hybrid was in fact slower than the Civic LX. This was attributed to the taller gearing in its 5-speed manual transmission. This had been done by Honda in order to further enhance the hybrid's fuel economy. One has only to wonder what the fuel economy would have been like if the 1.3L engine size had been made optional on the LX. My guess is Honda didn't want to risk the consumer finding out since they must have been aware that when temperatures drop below -10 degree C. the battery will supply only about 1/8 of its rated current thus you end up with a hybrid in name only. I hope I haven't broken anyone's pride in their vehicle just in case any HCH owner reads this, that is not my intention. In the orange states this vehicle has worked well, but for those wintering in northern climes, without an insulated battery module equipped with thermostatically controlled heaters, that's the way it's been.
T2

The newest Civic hybrids have a more powerful engine and motor. I look at this as an evolving design intended to have an Integrated Motor Assist which improves mileage and lowers emissions. This is ALL opinion on this site. Some people can just back their opinions with facts better than others.