There are a variety of reasons why you may like a hybrid car. You may want a hybrid car in order to cut your ever increasing petrol bill; in order to lessen your personal impact on the environment or you might only want the kudos of driving a car that is at the vanguard of technology. Of course, it could be for a mixture of all three reasons too.
Hybrid cars have been around for around ten years and so the technology is fairly well advanced. The thing to bear in mind is that hybrids are not performance cars in the traditional sense of the word. In the perspective of cars, the word ‘performance’ normally means ‘high speed’, but hybrid cars are performance cars because they save more than eight percent on the fuel bill.
They make this saving by basically using two engines. The one engine is a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) and the other is an electric motor. Both engines deliver their power through the same mechanical means to the wheels. The ICE generates electricity and supplies it to a battery, like any car does, however, a hybrid car can use this battery power to drive the car as well.
The electricity is generated by alternators and the braking system. Regenerative braking delivers a large amount of power to the batteries. In fact, so much so that under standard driving conditions, the batteries do not have to be charged from the national grid.
The ‘early’ hybrids used the electric motor just as an ‘assist’. In other words, while the petrol engine would usually require to be revved up to produce enough power to overtake or go up hill, the electric motor would jump in to assist it, thereby saving fuel, but the petrol engine is effectively running all the time. This a form of halfway hybrid. The Honda Insight was one of these.
However, a full hybrid will use one or the other or both of the engines, depending on how its computer best reads the power requirements of the driving conditions. The driver has no decisions to make, engines are switched on and off automatically and seamlessly by the car’s on board computer. Examples of this sort of full hybrid are the Toyota Prius and the Ford Escape Hybrid.
Although most individuals think of hybrids as new technology, the first hybrid car was made over a hundred years ago. Modern hybrids are about ten years old and the technology is improving rapidly. However, what actually has to happen now for hybrids to make a real impact on the amount of oil that the West consumes is for the prices to come down.
And I mean really come down a lot. Hybrid cars are far too costly for the average driver. If manufacturers reduced the price of the cars, more individuals would buy one which would stimulate the economy and aid the balance of payments deficit to say nothing of the effect of burning less fossil fuel would have on the environment.
If you are keen on the technology of Hybrid Cars And City Living, please go over to our web site on New Hybrid Vehicles
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