Hybrid Car 

What Is A Hybrid Car?

A hybrid car combines two or more power sources in one vehicle. The most common type of hybrid car runs on gasoline or an alternative fuel from an internal combustion engine and an electric motor powered by a battery. Putting two power sources to work instead of just one allows a hybrid car get get better gas mileage than a vehicle than runs on internal combustion alone. 

The goal of this article is to answer the question what is a hybrid car, to explain how a hybrid car works, and to clear up some common misconceptions about hybrid cars.

A hybrid car is one of a breed of "green vehicles" that not only save you money on fuel, but also run cleaner than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.  They spew fewer fumes into the atmosphere which many believe contribute to global warming and climate change. They certainly help reduce pollution in large metropolitan areas. There are additional environmental benefits when a hybrid uses flex fuel, hydrogen fuel, biodiesel or other cleaner alternative fuel sources.

A hybrid car is built with a control mechanism that automatically determines which of the two power systems works most efficiently at any given time. This control mechanism is so advanced that both power sources will work together to provide maximum mileage. The hybrid uses power from its batteries most of the time, but the gasoline engine kicks in when you need additional power climbing up a hill or passing a slow moving vehicle. The power that runs the electric motor comes from the gasoline engine along with the regenerative braking system.

The regenerative braking system is a mechanism that slows down your hybrid by converting the kinetic energy that the brakes create into a form of energy that is stored and fed back to the electric engine when it is needed.

Many people have the misconception that a hybrid car has to be plugged into an electrical outlet before the electric motor can be used. This is not the case. Hybrid cars don’t need to be plugged in because of their ingenious design. The best news is that hybrid cars are available now and each year engineers are coming up with new and improved designs. Earlier models depended mostly on technology that centered on the combustion engine, but things are changing. Today the technology of the electric motor is understood better so new improved designs are being made every year.

Hybrid cars are will become more affordable as technology improves and more are produced and sold. Most now cost 25,000 dollars or more, depending of course on the model. It's likely that every major automobile manufacturer will have hybrids in the future. Today you can already find hybrid cars, trucks, vans and there will undoubtedly be more coming soon.

Hybrid car statistics are not readily available, but it's estimated there were approximately 2 million hybrids on the road in the United States by 2010. Sales tend to rise when gas prices spike upward.