Puzzling acceleration comparo of Prius and Insight

[dkjones96]

The prius drivetrain is... interesting.

I can tell you right now that the better low-end acceleration comes from the Prius' big electric motor having so much torque. It starts to fall behind as the electric motor speeds up and becomes less efficient.

The electric motor is always connected to the wheels in the Prius. It has a fixed ratio. The gas engine is never directly coupled to the drivetrain. It has an electronic torque converter that is essentially an electric motor that gets loaded up more if they want less slip and loaded less for more slip. The part that connects to the rest of the drivetrain is at a fixed ratio as well. There is no 'cvt' in the Prius, it's just a variable, electronic torque converter going into a fixed ratio planetary gearset.