If the Prime (or Gen4) was the size of the Smart Car...

Nope, MPGe is "miles per gallon equivalent" - basically, a gallon of gasoline has 33.7 kWh of energy.

 

yes, but the plug in battery would be much smaller, impossible to determine ev miles for a layman.

but being able to do it, and being motivated to do it are completely different things.
i don't believe there's a market demand. at least not in this country.

 

A hybrid could be done; not enough space for the battery to make a PHEV worthwhile.
The hybrid could see better city fuel economy than the G4, but have worse on the highway. Assuming the battery is the same size, which could use up more space. It would have to be a two seater for the battery, I don't see where it would fit in the likes of the iQ.
Then the cost of system will push the car price up to high.

There are already kei cars that are micro-hybrids, which is just a start/stop system, and mild hybrid systems have come down in cost. I don't see a full hybrid smaller than a Prius c happening.

 

Toyota could absolutely do a kei-class hybrid if they wanted to - note that the Suzuki Wagon R is available with a mild hybrid system. 33.4 km/l on the Japanese cycle for 2WD, versus 25.6 km/l for the non-hybrid variant, for the current generation.

And, really, their current architecture could likely be downsized to use a 660 cc engine, and get improvements out of that, and taller keis have room for the battery, even, under a seat. Something iQ sized would have some trouble, though, but maybe shrinking the fuel tank would help.

(I really, really don't like stop-start systems, even ones i being called "micro hybrids", though. They don't provide any propulsion to the car.)

 

A basic mild hybrid is just start/stop with regen braking. It doesn't provide propulsion either. VW's newer start/stops are engaging while coasting, and not just when the car is stopped.

I just see the larger motor cost of a full hybrid being too large of a percentage increase to the kei car's price for it to sell well enough to bother.

 

The only "regen braking" that you can do with what you describe is enough to run the accessories, and that's pretty much the definition of a micro hybrid - alternator cutoff. Mild hybrid means that the engine must run during propulsion, but electric propulsion still happens, I thought.

 

i guess your admonition didn't make much of an impression.

 

The definitions I've seen for micro-hybrid is just stop/start.
While a Mazda with stop/start and i-Eloop Regen can be called a mild hybrid, but most mild hybrids have a battery pack to capture and store more energy.
Mild hybrid covers everything between the micro-hybrid and full hybrid. It can help with propulsion, and might even be powerful enough to get a stopped car to start rolling, but that isn't a requirement to be a mild hybrid. Those that do help with propulsion can be labeled assist hybrids.

Hybrid vehicle drivetrain - Wikipedia

 

Take a look at the price difference between Toyota hybrids and their ICE counter parts. It might be $3000 at the lowest. A lower power system for a tiny car would have some cost savings, but it still will be a sizeable price increase for the car. The Prius c and the Camry hybrid are both about $4000 more than the Yaris and Camry. That cost is easier to justify when the Camry starts at $24k than the $16K of the Yaris.

Now gas prices in other markets can make it more acceptable, but many people buying these cars are doing so mostly because they are cheaper to begin with, and they likely get decent fuel economy to begin with. A mild hybrid system will improve that while only adding about $1000 to the price.

Well, if our hypothetical tiny hybrid were built along the lines of an old MG, it would get better highway fuel economy. Most people are unwilling to buy a car in which they would have to climb down into, and could slip underneath a semi trailer. Such a car would also lose the benefit of fitting into tight parking spaces.

Most likely the hybrid would be shaped like a fortwo or iQ. The smaller frontal area will help with aerodynamics, but the short length means less room for smoothing out the airflow off the rear. In terms of air drag, they are no different than a boxy SUV, and aerodynamics plays a big part in highway fuel economy. The tiny hybrid could do better on the highway than many other cars, but not a slippery hybrid like the gen4 or Ioniq.

 

And, frontal area may not be smaller, either - this class of car is often taller, to enable shorter length by sitting the driver more upright.

 

Some Smart Car info Car Talk: Smart car is maybe not so smart after all | Online Athens

 

I guess it would have an even smaller market than the Prime.

plus there are already Prius sized cars that get 35mpg so why buy a tiny car?

plus in my experience the prime gets like 75 mpg in HV