Audi...they did the first diesel hybrid in 1997 with the audi A4 duo (1.9TDI + 21kW electro engine)... during a time no one was interested in such stuff.. the car completly floped and after only 90 ordered cars Audi droped it..

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Ouch. That was vicious.

But both funny and true.

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It's pretty simple if you read any interviews with toyota or audi heads on the topic, cost. lots of people say they want them, few people will pay a $6,000-$10,000 premium for one.

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to expand on Ruggel's excellent point...

Gasoline engines minded for economy have good acceleration, good cruising efficiency, and horrendously bad torque meaning bad from-stop performance

Electric motors have near-infinite torque when starting from a stop, but lose torque and horsepower steadily as they accelerate... The electrical system to feed these motors in a hybrid context also tend to be expensive.

Diesel motors have very, very good low end torque, but very bad acceleration (low revs), and are often turbocharged to get just 100 HP from a 2.0 Liter which makes them expensive.

So, a Diesel hybrid means you get all the cost of an electric booster setup with all the cost of a turbocharged Diesel to help the Diesel where it doesn't really need it.

Meanwhile, the main issue with Gasoline Electric hybrids is crappy battery technology. Good high density batteries weigh a ton, and light high density batteries have memory issues that means for 10 years of use you can only get them to a certain charge level and have to manage them constantly. So, there is a good chance that as batteries improve hybrids will get better and better mileage.

In the meantime, there are already several Diesel hybrids: locomotives and heavy ships have 3 or 4 two-stroke diesel engines (about 1000 ft-lbs each) to run generators to feed massive electric drive motors :)

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http://www.hybrid-vehicles.net/gm-allison-hybrid-bus.htm

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a V2 Diesel? The motor mounts alone would have to be $500 pieces of technology to not shake the car and/or passengers to bits....

There is a reason Harleys are mostly solid-state

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Lets not talk Harleys as they are not very well built machines. No wonder they dont come with tool kits. They come with repair kits instead because they break down all the time.

V Twins can be very very smooth. Honda and Yamaha have used them for ages. The packaging is great and it also has very good torque characteristics. It can really work.

A hybrid just needs a generator on the side to make electricity. A V Twin is more than up to the task.

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I have thought about this as well. Why cant the front end of a car be a huge electric motor powering the car. Then on the side somewhere or in the trunk or somewhere tucked away have a small engine supplying power to it. A 1 liter bike motor on a cruiser makes about 80hp. Thats 70 kilowatts of electricity. More than enough to supply power constantly even without the need of any batteries.

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V-twin engines are odd firing.
Boxing twin engines are even firing. So are inline two
http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/V-TWIN-7.html

Hopefully VW will get a 7 speed double [wet] clutch
5,10,15,20,25,30,35 mph / 1,000 rpm top speed ~130 in 7th gear sounds nice, eat that prius.

Isn't the mechanical coupling speed in the prius~75mph

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If you're going to go on-and-on about full series hybrids (motor in the front, generator in the back)... the obvious choice for the generator is a turbine of some sort. It can run on anything from ethanol to fuel oil, has one speed and one moving part with no harmonics to deal with. They don't even have to be that costly if you start cranking them out.

In the meantime, Toyota and GM (EV1 series hybrid, look it up) already did the research with full series hybrids and found out that WAY too much energy was being lost with speed variances and the triple-conversion (generator batteries motor) and found it was more efficient to just strap the gasoline motor directly into the drivetrain for highway cruising with a bit of power generation on the side. (Cheaper too).

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BMW too.

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