The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

compact the Electric Vehicle Division could design the actual
hybrid system consisting of engine, motor, and inverter.
The "off-stage" cooling devices were better off being as
compact as possible.
Another problem was the use of air conditioning in
the summer.
If the three radiators or heat exchangers are placed next to
each other, air warmed by the heat from the inverter
radiator would flow directly to the air conditioning
condenser. The condenser would not work as efficiently as
if it had been placed up front, so the compressor would over-
work to lower the temperature when the air conditioning is
turned on, creating a heavy burden on the engine and fuel
economy would suffer. If air conditioning were not used,
there would be no problem. But its use in summer would
result in poor fuel economy so that the reputation of
Prius as a fuelefficient car would be fatally
undermined. If the condenser were to be placed in the
middle and still achieve the same performance as if it were
placed in front, it would need to be much larger in size. Its
cost would rise and the space requirement would be greater. A
third, problem involved the pride and confidence that
Suzaki and his staff had as cooling professionals. When
they held discussions, Suzaki often urged his staff to do better
by saying, "Anyone can come up with the method of placing
the three radiators next to each other. Our job is to use our
knowledge to solve a unique problem. If we
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