Understanding the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid

What Hacker News said

Strong rec globular-toast · 2026-05 · on “Nobody understands the point of hybrid cars [video]”

I understood after I watched the brilliant Weber Auto video on it, published 5 years ago[0]. I liked it so much I "gently" encouraged my partner to get a Yaris hybrid, which gets about 69mpg average. It's not unusual to see 80+ on individual trips. She was a little sceptical about having an auto at first, because us Europeans still think it's 1980 and that manuals are superior, but she came around after a few minutes of driving. To be fair, though, classic "slushbox" autos actually were/are garbage, as are chain actuated CVTs. The hybrid system gets you immediate acceleration like an electric, none of this awful lag you get with a slushbox. It's hilarious to me that 34mpg is considered remar

Recommends somerandomqaguy · 2023-07 · on “Toyota Is Right: We Need More Hybrid Cars and Fewer EVs. Here’s Why”

Toyota's eCVT? Not at all. The gas engine can drive the front wheels directly. [LINK] Conceptual explanation of the system. [this video] Weber Auto giving an extensive hands on explanation.

Recommends hedgehog · 2025-12 · on “Ford kills the All-Electric F-150”

The planetary gear "eCVT" systems that Toyota and Ford use in many models are mechanically a lot simpler than a traditional automatic or sequential manual transmission. Few moving parts and no clutches at all. I don't know what the long term reliability of those drivetrains is is but I wouldn't be surprised if it's measurably measurably better than a traditional transmission + engine. There's a long educational video from Weber State University that gives a good walkthrough of what's going on in those things. [this video]

Cites hedgehog · 2023-11 · on “Who makes the most reliable new cars?”

Most of the images there are broken, all I see are some conceptual block diagram type things. Find a teardown of the hybrid unit and compare to a teardown of any automatic, look at the actual internal complexity and moving parts. I was surprised. Here's a video of the P710: [this video]

Cites brendoelfrendo · 2024-03 · on “Dual-Clutch Transmission: Wet or Dry?”

The "eCVT" in the Toyota hybrid system isn't a CVT at all, but rather a system that uses the electric motors with planetary gearsets to keep the engine operating as close to its optimal RPM as possible: [this video]

Cites CRConrad · 2024-12 · on “First Geared CVT [video]”

A quick Web search seems to indicate that's either a) not actually a CVT at all, or at best b) a planetary gear used as a power-splitting device to connect electric and ICE power sources to a conventional CVT. So this compares rather favourably, by actually being a geared CVT, which Toyota's "eCVT" apparently isn't at all. Sources: [LINK] (From: [LINK] ) [this video] (Long, 39 min!) Ooh, aah, now I get it (I think): Yes, the output RPM of the "eCVT" is indeed continuously variable. But that's just how all planetary gearboxes with two power inputs (as here, ICE and e-motor) work: The output RPM is a function of both the input RPMs, a (weighted) average of them if you will. So you can vary the outp

Cites Merad · 2025-11 · on “Tiny electric motor can produce more than 1,000 horsepower”

> Toyota-style hybrid drives could be a lot lighter The hybrid electric motor in a Toyota is already pretty comparable in weight to the motor in TFA, but obviously much less powerful. You can see the main hybrid motor of a RAV4 at [0]. If memory serves both the Camry and RAV4 hybrid models are only 2-300 lbs heavier than their gas counterparts. 0: [this video]