Hybrid bus at WDW

[Rayray]

Funny... but hybrids actually don't do that well in gridlock (well, no worse than a regular car, but not as well as normal). For many hybrids, there's a slight improvement with City driving vs. Highway. But gridlock (especially that slow) is a sure way to drain your battery -- and then what are you driving? Yep, a gas engine car.

Yeah that is interesting really. The car only uses the motor under a certain speed, but the motor still has to be powered by energy from its battery - which uses the car engine as a generator to create power. All in all, the hybrid is more effecient at high speeds, sometimes by a large difference.

I am still trying to figure out how a hybrid bus gets a substantial improvement in efficiency? To me, it seems like the big bus would have to much mass for an electric motor to contribute much. It must have some kind of heavyduty motor, or maybe a series of motors. If the engine cuts of when they are parked, though, I bet they save plenty of gas. (Plus, regenerative breaking in a bus would provide tons of energy because of all of that momentum from the bulky bus.)