Monday, July 28, 2008

Looking in Depth at Hybrid Autos


Hybrid automotive is a vehicle, which uses a dual engine power automotive technology to run. This is an old technology. For instance, the technology was used in older diesel electric submarines. The idea behind hybrid automobile is the usage of two power sources to increase overall efficiency.

Now, there may be a question in your mind that why use dual-power sources in a vehicle. The answer to this is very simple. Researchers thought that common people might not meet the expense of gasoline in future. Excessive usage of gasoline in recent century is an alarming trend for increased CO2 emission. Hybrid automobiles intended to provide a cheap journey to passengers at an affordable price.

Working of Hybrid Automotive:

A hybrid automobile mainly uses gasoline and electric power to function. There are few diesel electric vehicles too, which are running on this technology. A hybrid makes use of electric power only when the engine requires power. For instance, when a hybrid vehicle reaches a speed of 30-40 mph, it uses electric energy.

Almost every automobile makes use of a conventional small lightweight engine. It provides the required speed to the vehicle. When the car needs acceleration, electric source may add some extra power to attain that speed.

Generally, these vehicles can touch a speed of 75 miles per hour similar to the speed of V8 (supercar). However, V8 has a greater acceleration power, so why waste fuel on a V8 car, when such hybrid cars can give you the same performance.

Types of Hybrid Automotive:

There are two types of gasoline hybrid automobiles. First is the Series hybrid vehicle and the second is the Parallel hybrid Vehicle. Series hybrid use gasoline engines to activate a generator, which powers an electric motor or charge the batteries. Next, parallel hybrid vehicle combines two sources of power to generate more or average power with better mileage.

Hybrid automobiles deliver good performance, even though they have small engines. The main reason for such a credible performance apart from the small engine is the use of lightweight materials used in the creation of these vehicles. The lightweight materials used in hybrid vehicles are low-rolling resistance tires, advanced aerodynamics and carbon fiber components.

Due to these lightweight materials, there is less load on the vehicle. A hybrid automobile automatically turns off the gasoline engine, when the vehicle is not in use. For instance, when the vehicle halts at a traffic signal, it automatically turns off the engine.

Some hybrid vehicles have regenerative braking system. By using a regenerative braking system, the vehicle may lower the speed by decreasing some amount of power. The generator thus, uses the decreased power to generate electric energy.

The cost of such hybrid automotive ranges from $23,000 to $54,000. Even hybrid SUVs are available in the market. Thus, the demands of such hybrid vehicles are increasing profusely.

Recently, the technology has successfully developed plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which are rechargeable with the help of power grid eliminating the need of conventional fuel (gas) for short tours.

About the Author

Find a gas card and more of Tom's work at FINDgascards.

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