Oh, and the Note's closest hybrid competitor is AFAIK the Aqua, which most trims get 34.4 km/l on the JC08 cycle. For comparison, the US-market Aqua - the Prius c - gets 48 city, 43 highway. So, I'd expect a Versa Note e-Power to get something like 47 city, but it'd fall off a cliff on the highway without at least a clutch to bypass the serial hybrid system (ala the current Honda and Mitsubishi serial hybrid systems).

@mahonj: The 80 miles per US gallon figure is based on the JC08 test cycle, where most trims of the Note e-Power are rated for 34 km/l (there is a base trim rated for 37.2 km/l), but the maximum speed on that test cycle is 82 km/h, not even the national speed limit in Japan. Consider it a very gentle (not as gentle as the previous 10-15 mode cycle, but still gentle) city cycle, not highway.

Wait a second, isn't diesel's higher energy density completely offset by higher carbon density? (As in, if you burn a specified volume of diesel, you'll get ~13% more energy than burning the same volume of gasoline, but you'll also get ~13% more CO2?)

What would also be interesting is to see data on actual usage of these systems (that is, how often are they left enabled). A lot of the non-hybrid stop-start systems introduce a fair amount of delay due to restarting the engine (whereas some hybrids can start rolling on electric before the engine's running, and even the mild systems have more power available to start the engine smoothly), and the US light-duty truck market is a market that's particularly resistant to change...

mahonj: The 95 g/km standard is NEDC, not WLTP. The 2025 and 2030 standards will be set in WLTP terms, but based on a NEDC-WLTP adjustment factor that will be calculated in 2021.

mahonj: It doesn't need to vary speed to pulse and glide, though. Pulse and glide in a conventional ICE vehicle is done to optimize engine load versus vehicle power demand. ICEs are most efficient at relatively high load (at low RPM), so in many cases, the ICE is most efficient while accelerating. So, you accelerate. Then, once you're going your maximum speed, you shut down (or as a safer option, go to neutral) and coast down to your minimum speed. The Prius can (and does) pulse and glide a different way. (I find it's most aggressive about it at or below 60 MPH indicated. Above that, it can shut down, but there's various reasons to keep the engine running, so it rarely does unless you're decelerating.) Instead of accelerating, it charges the battery. And, instead of coasting when it shuts down the engine, it discharges the battery to continue providing the vehicle with power.

@Peter_XX: This isn't like the coolant thermos on the Gen 2 Prius, though. It merely extracts heat from exhaust gases, so in any test cycle with a sufficiently long cold soak, it'll help. (It's too short cold soaks that it won't help.)

Toyota is using a system like this, and has been for 9 years or so, since the Gen 3 Prius came out (it replaced the coolant thermos system that the Gen 2 had).

Of course, there's simply avoiding the idle regime altogether. Hybridization can provide a large enough energy store to maintain climate control (except before the engine's warmed up) while avoiding idle, and also can provide for smoother acceleration with stop-start systems (avoiding the legitimate complaints people have about stop-start - the illegitimate ones, though, are another story).

What's the thermal efficiency? They say 10% better than comparable engines, but how does it compare to, say, the Toyota A20A-FXS?

Actually, OK, maybe I'm not fair - maybe there's a 20% buffer in the capacity. That still means 703 Wh/mi. Meanwhile, the giant barge of the Pacifica Hybrid gets 400 Wh/mi. Or, how about things that this is actually kinda competing against? The Model S 100D gets 330 Wh/mi, and the Model 3 LR gets 260 Wh/mi.

50 km NEDC range from a 13.5 kWh battery? So, that translates to about 16 miles or so EPA range, from the 50 km NEDC PHEVs I've seen. 844 Wh/mi. What an amazingly funny joke.

@CheeseEater88: They do have a SCR, but VW didn't just have an EGR in the American cars - they either had a LNT or SCR themselves.

Rather strange wording on that TNGA rollout - IIRC the actual order of release of TNGA-based cars was Gen 4 Prius (which China doesn't get at all, instead preferring the locally-produced Corolla/Levin), C-HR, Lexus LC, then Camry.

@SatoruRyu: The rest of the car isn't built any better than the gasoline equivalent, modern diesels have expensive emissions control systems that can easily put the vehicle beyond economic repair when they fail (to avoid local pollution problems). Plenty of reasons why a diesel doesn't have significantly longer life than a gasoline vehicle in the real world. And, regarding your other points, diesel being a not terrible lubricant only affects the fuel system (which is also working much harder to atomize the fuel, due to the much lower volatility and resulting much higher pressures required), and many diesels use aluminum blocks nowadays.

In automotive applications, cell counts are usually high enough that you could reconfigure the pack for more serial cell layouts. For instance, the Tesla Model 3 has two battery configurations, based on 31 or 46 cell parallel bricks. In either configuration, the bricks are laid out in two groups of 25, two groups of 23, each brick being serially connected, for a 96S31P or 96S46P pack. (Source for that info is Electrek.) So, the nominal pack voltage on the Tesla Model 3 in either battery configuration is 345.6 V (assuming 3.6 V nominal cell voltage), and I believe full charge will be in the area of 398.4 V (assuming 4.15 V per cell). If these cells are 1 volt full charge, you're looking at roughly a 400S configuration. So, for the long range pack, 400S11P gives you 4400 cells (instead of the 4416 cells of the current long range pack), and for the standard pack, I'd lean towards 400S8P for 3200 cells instead of the 2976 it has currently (the other way to go would be 400S7P, and that would reduce capacity significantly... unless that capacity isn't needed). If they're 1 volt nominal, you're looking at roughly a 346S configuration. If there's room, 346S13P gives you 4498 cells, if not, 346S12P gives you 4152 cells. 346S9P is where I'd go for the standard pack, for 3114 cells. Do note that this is easier on Tesla packs, where there's a lot of parallel smaller cells. Other automakers use large prismatic cells and may need to use more, smaller cells to get the voltage up where they want it.

I'd have some serious concerns about PLA's durability, considering how low of a temperature is required to break it down (60°C)...

The Lurking Jerk: Is it wrong, though, that the racial distribution likely does expose minorities to more pollution? Also, using the argument that minorities are exposed to more pollution is likely also a political tactic - if California can prove that there is a racial bias caused by locomotive emissions, the 14th Amendment actually requires them to enact this emissions standard, to equally protect them under the law. Finally, California does go after oceangoing vessels, at least within the jurisdiction that they're able to do so: https://www.arb.ca.gov/ports/marinevess/marinevess.htm CheeseEater88: Worth noting that California already does do emissions testing at least to some extent on everything with a tailpipe that's at least MY1998 (because MY1997 and older diesels, and MY1975 and older gassers are exempt). It's not everything, and it's not tailpipe tests at least on the OBD-II capable ones, but...