But hybrids cannot function without the battery pack.
The $10,000 tune-up.
I am somewhat of an automotive luddite, I hate ABS, TPMS, a PCM, COPs, remote locking, burglar alarms, and most other black boxes and hyper-engineered doo-dads that make modern cars expensive and flakey. I think they had it about right with OBDII and crank-fire ignition.
I don't even like automatic transmissions, especially computer shifted ones....which brings me to my point.
Imagine a "hybrid" with just two big batteries, like those found on a tractor-trailer rig.
As a byproduct of their misguided thinking, what the engineers have done is replaced the transmission with a simple, fool-proof, relatively inexpensive electric motor...properly sized per vehicle, it could easily never wear out.
The hybrid then would be using much the same technology as a locomotive. A small displacement turbo engine, the same type of speed controller, and a couple of batteries to smooth things out when it starts from a dead stop....
You might not even need the batteries, just one to start the engine.
It sounds like an automotive mad-scientist experiment once these things hit the junkyards needing battery packs.
And I guess my main point is....maybe they could.