Prius' E-Four vs. High Output E-Four

If that is the case Toyota US is doing everything in their power to kill the Prime considering their botched "nationwide" rollout. They should have also required their privately owned distributors to provide for their dealers or lose their rights to sell Toyota. Only if Toyota were truthful though.

 

Does the Prius E-Four work in reverse gear?

 

All PRIUS reverse only by EV mode. The E-Four drives the rear axle solely by EV - I would assume that it should use that drive also in reverse.

What does the RAV4 hybrid do?

 

I don't mean to be rude or ungrateful, but that does not answer my question.

I, too, had assumed that the answer was yes, for similar reasons, but my assumption did not answer my question.

Moreover, I think you and I both would go so far as to say that there is no good reason why the answer should not be yes. But that is not an answer.

Does anyone know the answer?

 

You are rude since this car is not yet available for the US majority here to know. Feel free to try & contact Toyota engineering in Japan. I am sure somebody there knows the anser.

tl:dr Yes somebody knows but they are unlikely to tell you here.

 

It's really quite simple: if you don't know the answer to a question, you are perfectly free not to answer it. Which is what you should have done.

 

Asking the same question in the wrong place expecting different results is the definition of insanity

 

In the Japanese edition of the New Car Features book (more info), a diagram in the THS-II コントロール [THS-II Control] section explains operation in reverse on vehicles with 4WD (E-Four). This diagram shows AC power being transmitted to the rear motor generator (MGR), and torque being transmitted from MGR to the rear wheels, though the brief accompanying text doesn’t discuss it.

 

Putting aside the silliness around how we are already discussing E-Four in this thread in this forum, ...

What might actually be useful is to get some information as to whether AWD works in reverse gear in other Toyota hybrids such as the Highlander, and, if so, how.

It may just be a matter of running the electric motor in reverse.

This is very different from how reverse gear works in a conventional ICE-only car. The ICE doesn't run in reverse, so it is up to the transmission to convert the power to move the wheels backward.

And I think this explains why the Prius only uses the electric motor, and not the ICE, when in reverse. Because the power split device has no ability to reverse the direction of the output. But if there is only one input (the electric motor), and it reverses direction, then the output reverses direction.

If my understanding is correct, then it should be simple for the hybrid AWD Highlander to work in reverse, just by reversing the direction of both electric motors: the one that goes to the power split device to push the front wheels, and the "extra" motor that pushes the rear wheels when AWD is in effect.

AND, if this is true about the (hybrid, AWD) Highlander, then there is no reason why this shouldn't also be true for the Prius. Because the only difference is a less powerful motor, and that wouldn't matter.

 

It's OK - I've just blocked her.