16 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Do hybrids need to be recharged, or does the combustion engine take care of that?

Most hybrids recharge when the gas engine takes over. If I needed to replace my 2014 Subaru Forester, I would
look at the new hybrid Forester from Subaru. My 2001 Forester was the last manual shift I had and will never
go back to.

30 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Do hybrids need to be recharged, or does the combustion engine take care of that?

There are plug in hybrids that are very economical indeed, but as Charlie said, most don't require plugging in. The petrol engine charges the battery when required, or if you put your foot down the petrol engine kicks in to assist the electric motor.

On our display it gives you a graphic representation of where the power is coming from. When you first turn the car on its electric power only and you can drive on just electric for a little way untill the engine needs to charge the battery.

On ours, there are various driving modes. Eco which puts the emphasis on electric as much as possible, normal mode and then a performance mode that tends to fire up the petrol engine more.

I don't know if Ray's is the same, but our gear selector has P, R, N, D... then a B setting..B gives you more regen and thus engine braking for down hills. I never use B personally.

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

Do hybrids need to be recharged, or does the combustion engine take care of that?

The Civic does it automatically. There are only two small batteries so on that power only it wouldn’t even go two miles. There’s a display that shows when the engine is working and when it’s charging the batteries. There are paddles on the steering wheel which slows the car and uses that energy to charge the batteries. All very clever.

On short journeys in built-up areas it can achieve 80+mpg. A road driving is around 50-60mpg. Motorway is around 45mph.

Range is 400miles+ with no range anxiety. It’s as close as you can get to a pure petrol engine.

I thought that hybrids use only the electric motors up to a certain speed and then beyond that or when going uphill the gasoline engine starts and begins contributing additional power. At a certain load/speed the gasoline engine becomes the primary source of power.

Do they work differently now?

Dave

5 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

I thought that hybrids use only the electric motors up to a certain speed and then beyond that or when going uphill the gasoline engine starts and begins contributing additional power. At a certain load/speed the gasoline engine becomes the primary source of power.

Do they work differently now?

Dave

That’s how the Honda Civic e-hev works to a point. But the engine can provide power to the generators that power the wheels at high speed. It’s all quite technical.

1 hour ago, dave2013 said:

I thought that hybrids use only the electric motors up to a certain speed and then beyond that or when going uphill the gasoline engine starts and begins contributing additional power. At a certain load/speed the gasoline engine becomes the primary source of power.

Do they work differently now?

Dave

"A Toyota eCVT hybrid switches to the gas engine based on power demand, speed, and battery state, not a single fixed speed. The engine kicks in when accelerating hard, when the battery is low, or generally when driving above roughly 40 to 45 mph (though it can vary by model).

The system's computers automatically manage the power transition based on several key triggers:

• Hard Acceleration: The engine turns on and blends its power with the electric motor (via the eCVT's planetary gear) whenever you press the pedal firmly for maximum acceleration.

• High Speeds: The car switches to the engine at higher cruising speeds where electric motors are less efficient.

• Low Battery: The engine starts up to act as a generator and recharge the high-voltage hybrid battery.

• Cabin Heating/Cooling: In colder weather, the engine may run to generate necessary heat for the vehicle's cabin"