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Old 29 Jun 2017, 04:14 (Ref:3747723)   #4950
chernaudi
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DPI is almost as spec as LMP2 due to it being a BOP formula. Yeah, the cars may have manufacturer influenced bodywork and stock block engines, but the idea is the same--cost caps and minimal incentive to develop.

I can't imagine Audi, Porsche, Toyota or even Peugeot returning to/staying in LMP1 if the rules are based on DPI regs. Granted, I can see stuff like the 1km on EV power/finish the race on EV power getting dropped as unnecessary/irrelevant, but if the plug in hybrid is a spec part, I don't see how it can't be integrated if the teams want it.

However, Porsche seem to see (if the recent opinions of Auto Motor und Sport and Motorsport Total writers are accurate to fact) it as a gimmick because their Panamera plug in hybrid can do 50km at road speeds on EV power alone before the engine has to kick in to power the car and charge the hybrid system back up.

The Audi A3 e-tron is a plug in hybrid that can go 16 miles on EV alone, with the Audi A8 and Q8 likely to go further than that.

Personally, one of the biggest flaws in the whole hybrid thing all along going back to 2012 was that the ACO basically encouraged hybrids to function basically as a go faster button than a genuine range extender. Which is how they're predominantly used on road cars. Yes, the current cars are using 30% less fuel than in 2013 and earlier, but I think that the fuel flow meters/lift and coast accounts for a lot more of that than the hybrid systems themselves are.

Granted, the whole hybrid thing would make a lot of sense to me if the systems were powerful enough and had enough juice so that the only thing that the ICE would have to do is serve as a generator. Now that would be awesome. That would, both on the track and on the road, serve as a perfect halfway house between pure EV and non-hybrid while eliminating both's major problems, range on EV, and emissions/fuel economy for the ICE.

However, with that being said, on the racing end, if 8MJ hybrids have proven to be expensive and borderline difficult to package in LMP1s with their space constraints as of now, imagine what those issues would be with a hybrid system powerful enough that the only reason you'd need an ICE of any type would be to be a simple generator.
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