Victor said:
flare said:
i dont think it can shift to electric but it can shift to the gas engine
i think the electric motor is engaged all the time.
Both are constantly engaged. There is no shifting of gears at all. Check here to find a good description of how the gears work
http://home.earthlink.net/~graham1/MyToyotaPrius/PriusFrames.htm
No, they aren't necessarily "constantly engaged."
At low speeds, the ICE sometimes stops rotating, even while the car is still in motion. The crank and cam(s) stop moving, and the planet-carrier stops turning, while the planet gears themselves still revolve. To me, that means it's quite disengaged.
MG1 doesn't always spin, and sometimes it reverses direction. When the ICE is stopped and you are in motion, MG1 sits and waits for the signal to restart the ICE.
Once MG1 has restarted the ICE, MG1 typically either "does nothing" or goes into generator-mode. If MG1 is doing nothing, it's not spinning, right? Or maybe it's freewheeling? This part I'm not clear on, but if at times, MG1 is neither producing nor using electricity, woudln't that be disengaged?
MG2 is always turning when the car is in motion, but sometimes, it is neither producing nor using electricity, therefore, it's not really "engaged". Yes, it's connected to the wheels, but it is in a non-functioning state sometimes, so to me that also means it's disengaged.
But that last one is a fine line, I suppose.