You are correct and incorrect. A better explanation is available elsewhere.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car14.htm
The Prius can be made to run with the gasoline engine only but only if you desire it or if there was a "limp" mode available. Currently there is no limp mode should something happen with the electric side of the equation. Should you lose the electric motor, for example, you would not be able to start the car. The same electric motor is the starter for the gas engine.
BTW,FYI,The fatal error diagnostic that caused the safe shutdown of several Prius in the field were caused by beta safety software which has been replaced by software updates.
The engine was not designed to run from 0 to 6000 rpm but rather only at a narrow power band of 5000 rpm. When you accelerate up to 40, you are electric from 0-40. After 40, the engine assists until you reach the cruise speed you desire. It then operates as needed.
I am incorrect in thinking it is a true hybrid but rather it is what they call a parallel hybrid with a planetary gear drive. The PGD is basically a Continously Variable Transmission using a planetary gear drive.
I am always thinking for hybrid as true hybrid such as fuel engine to generator to electric motor, which is how the technology first started.
I stand corrected. The Prius is a automotive compromise between the automotive world and the true hybrid world of heavy industry and construction, using unique and rather innovative technologies.
These technologies however, don't look like they would work in a Land Rover environment unless it is a road-only hardware-software platform.
I have a mental picture in my head of that planetary drive going into a rock on a trail and the resultant damage imagined is considerable.
