Hybrid Car

The Hybrid Cars Have Many Advantages Over Standard Cars

2011-07-24T13:10:00.000+08:00

People are not as interested in gas-guzzling cars due to the fact of a escalating fuel costs. With the amount of different hybrid cars readily available, these people are seriously considering trading in their conventional cars. With the development of the environmental movement, hybrid cars have increased in popularity in the United States. There are many gains that a hybrid car has above the conventional car. Hybrid cars typically cost more in the beginning than traditional cars but, eventually, they end up costing you much less.

The hybrid car is now the most effective cars intended for saving money as it gets a lot more miles to each gallon. With growing gas prices, it’s no surprise that folks are beginning to look to hybrid cars as the best option. In fact, compared with a standard vehicle, a hybrid will cut your fuel consumption in half. The purchase price may be bigger for a hybrid but the money you save on gas will make up the difference. Your hybrid vehicle will appear to be a bargain once you surpass the point where the money it can save you on gas is a lot more than the difference between buying a cheaper car.

The hybrid vehicle takes benefit from clean electrical energy and uses it with petrol energy. Hybrids provide full efficiency potential through the use of smaller gasoline engines, and built to be aerodynamic, and constructed with light materials. Hybrid vehicles run very efficiently due to aerodynamic design and their scaled-down gasoline engines. A hybrid goes by utilizing an electric motor, in addition to a gasoline-powered engine. If you are stopped in traffic or awaiting someone, the gasoline engine switches off and the electric power operates the car. The gas engine can come back on whenever you speed up the car.

You won’t have to get anxious any longer about wasting gas every time you have to stop and start your car in traffic. When the car is moving, the propulsion will likely be shared by both the electric motor, and the gasoline engine. Hybrid cars, going on two different power sources, runs on clearer energy. There are actually less toxic fumes generated as you drive a hybrid car. A hybrid car goes more quietly due to its smaller gas engine and the point that it uses electric power. Therefore, we can look ahead to both a lesser amount of air pollution and noise pollution.

The hybrid car is different from the electric car, since it does not need to be plugged in to recharge the batteries. This is because, as the car is running, or braking the batteries are going to be recharged. Buying a hybrid in the United States will give you a huge tax break, relying on the savings in gas. Hybrid cars with their advantages are fast becoming a highly regarded choice for car buyers everywhere. Frequently fluctuating gas prices will no longer be a concern.

Hybrid Car Maintenance

2011-07-24T13:05:00.000+08:00

A hybrid car is basically a car that runs on a combination of a fuel combustion engine and mechanical energy provided by a battery cell. These cars are usually run using petrol, but there are also hybrid cars that run on gasoline and diesel. Some also run on optional fuels like ethanol alcohol or plant fuel.

Though hybrid cars generally cost more than normal cars, they don't need much maintenance. These hybrid cars don't need any type of additional maintenance on its components. The only maintenance that some cars may need is the replacement of the air filter on some battery systems every 40,000 miles. Of course, you have to run similar maintenance to the fuel engine of a hybrid car as you would to any other regular fuel-engine vehicle. So this implies that according to the driving conditions and vehicle, oil changes have to be made every 5,000 to 10,000 miles.

In fact, when comparing some aspects of hybrid cars, they offer less maintenance than ordinary cars. The brake pads of ordinary cars tend to wear out and thus need periodical changes. However, because of regenerative braking that exists in hybrids, the brake pads in hybrid cars tend to last longer. Here the electric motor acts as a generator where energy is captured to be lost when the car is either cruising or when brakes are applied. This energy is changed into electricity to recharge batteries, which in turn is used to increase the efficiency of fuel in the car.

There is no need of plugging a hybrid car as maintenance for its battery as the battery receives its energy source through regenerative braking. This is unlike other electric cars where the battery has to be plugged periodically for its battery to be in running condition. Unlike the notion that the batteries of hybrid cars have to be replaced repeatedly, there is no need of replacing batteries here as long as the charge is maintained between 40% and 60% its charge. This way the battery is never fully charged or drained by which the longevity is extended.

It is usually thought that hybrid cars charge more in terms of maintenance. However, this is not true, as sometimes its maintenance is lower because of decreased wear and tear on the engine and its braking system. Moreover, when you do a maintenance check up for a hybrid car, it is better to take the hybrid car to its dealer. This is because the dealer offers a warranty on the amount of usage of the car on both the emission parts and the battery pack. Of course, you may have to pay a little more when servicing the car in the dealer service center; however, you are will be confident of receiving the best service for your car.

Today, there are many classes being run to teach mechanics all there is to know about the maintenance of hybrid cars. This is to meet the demand of the rising demand for hybrid cars. So by the time your warranty on your hybrid car expires, you will be confident of finding qualified mechanics for your hybrid car maintenance.

So what exactly is a hybrid car?

2011-07-24T12:41:00.000+08:00

Here's a hybrid car definition: A hybrid car is a car which can run on two or more fuel sources.

It's a simple as that!

Things get rather more complicated when you get down to the details about hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are becoming more widely available and more popular.

Now, in 2009, with the facts about carbon emissions and climate change becoming widely accepted, most motor manufacturers are suddenly jumping on the hybrid car bandwagon. As the market expands there are more used hybrid cars available, as well as new models but older models may not always be so desirable for a number of reasons.

So here are some hybrid car facts to help you choose the best in motoring for yourself and your family - and the best for the planet, too, of course.

The Word

The word hybrid is usually applied to plants and animals which have been cross-bred between species to produce something new. Plant breeders typically cross different plant varieties to produce better stock which incorporates some of the best of the different varieties used. Animals, too can be crossed to create new types (e.g Ligers and tygons - lion and tiger crosses). Some of these hybrids do occur naturally, others are deliberately created by human intervention.

Cars, of course, don't reproduce - (it just sometimes seems that way when you look at the roads!)

What has happened with hybrid cars has been a deliberate crossing of fuelling technology to get the best from fuels and to make the resultant cars more efficient.

Hybrid cars - a very short history

Hybrid cars are far from new. the first hybrid was built over a hundred years ago - the Mixte built by Porsche. The Mixte even won a car rally. It used a gasoline engine to power a generator which ran an electric motor.

Dual-fuel vehicles were not uncommon in the 1930s and 40s. Many buses and other heavy transport vehicles had systems which allowed them to run on petrol or diesel.

Most modern hybrids are HEVs - Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

The technology to power the hybrids of today really began in the 1970s. Victor Wouk is usually seen as the "Godfather" of the hybrid car after he developed a hybrid drive-train for a Buick. Progress stalled when the US EPA ditched the Federal Clean Car Incentive Program in the mid seventies.

The next technical innovation which was crucial to modern hybrid design was the regenerative braking system. Regenerative brakes harvest electrical energy from the process of braking. The energy is used to recharge the battery and reduce fuel consumption. David Arthurs developed the first one in the mid 1970s. He was able to reach 78mpg in a modified Opel GT sports car.

Hybrid cars now

Since the 1990s hybrid cars have become a viable alternative to standard petrol or diesel cars. Petrol (gasoline) prices are creeping up and the consensus is they are likely to continue rising. The world's oil deposits are limited and many pundits believe that the amount of extractable oil available is likely to decline over the next few years. This means ever rising fuel prices (supply and demand).

So, the logical thing to do is to find good alternatives to gasoline as a fuel and to become more efficient in using gas.

Hybrid cars offer very real fuel savings so they are increasingly popular with motorists.

The first modern HEV hit the road in 1997. It was the Toyota Prius and ten years on it is still rated the best hybrid by many people.

Some common makes of hybrid car

The Toyota Prius

The Prius is probably the most well-known hybrid and is deservedly the leader in the field. The first Toyota Prius was the brainchild of engineer Takeshi Uchiyamada. It first went on sale in 1997. Sales of the Prius now total 829,000 vehicles - and counting!

The Prius has won Car of the Year awards in Japan, the US and Europe and it gets five stars for safety from the European New Car Assessment Programme. It features continuously variable transmission between the power sources. This means that both the electric and gas engines are always engaged, so there is no shifting between power sources.

The Prius delivers around 42mpg on city and motorway driving combined. European versions of the Prius can run on the electric battery only for a few kilometres. (This is sometimes known a "stealth" mode because the car is so quiet. This has been noted as a problem for pedestrians, especially the blind.)

The latest Prius boasts a whole raft of features deigned to save fuel and emissions. Here are one or two examples:

Lower rolling-resistance tires are designed for reduced friction without impairing road grip.
The drive motors have enough power to quickly spin the engine to optimal revolutions per minute (around 1,000) before the engine fires up. This avoids wear when the engine is going at very low RPM - a problem for most vehicles.
The Prius also has a flexible resin gas tank. This reduces the amount of hydrocarbon emissions from petrol vapours.

The Prius scores particularly well as an eco-friendly vehicle: The latest models are certified as an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicles (AT-PZEV). It is also classed as a SULEV - Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle.

Toyota's goal for the Prius was to reduce exhaust emissions and to be as energy-efficient as possible. Most people reckon they succeeded brilliantly but there's considerable dismay amongst environmentalists that Toyota still carry on producing all their other gas-guzzling models!

What's next for the Prius?

Toyota are currently road testing a plug-in version (which would make the car even cleaner in terms of NOx emissions) and there's also rumours that Toyota are developing a lithium-ion battery. In the medium distant future, Toyota is developing ever lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. They will be using carbon fibre and aluminium in their next generation of hybrid cars, in a bid to get fuel efficiency in the region of 90 mpg or more.

Honda hybrids

The Honda Insight and Honda Civic have both been successful hybrid models. The Insight, a very small car, was first introduced to the US market in 2000. The Honda Civic hybrid has gone from strength to strength and next year's models deliver an estimated 45mpg and come with many very desirable features as standard.

The new hybrid Honda Accord is a fairly powerful mid-sized car and is proving popular despite its relatively high fuel consumption (about 32mpg).

The Honda Accord uses an IMA - Integrated Motor Assist - which helps the main petrol engine by adding electric power when possible. This means in practice, that the Accord is not as efficient as the Toyota Prius.

Ford

Ford joined the party in 2005 when it introduced the Ford Escape hybrid to the US market. It was manufactured in only limited numbers and, as a high spec SUV, has a fairly hefty price tag (upwards of 30,000 dollars for some models).

It has V6 equivalent engines and it is a "full" hybrid. It uses electronically controlled, continuously variable transmission (eCVT), which means that both the electric and petrol engines are continuously involved in power production. However, it can run on electric only for short periods. Fuel economy is good for a SUV: 36 mpg in city driving and 31 mpg on the open road.

Chevy

At the top end of the market is Chevrolet’s Silverado Hybrid, a gasoline-electric hybrid half-ton pickup and it comes with either 2 Wheel Drive or 4WD and has an extended cab. The fuel consumption is less than impressive at around 19mpg but you doubtless get a lot of truck for your money! Prices are around 32,000 dollars.

An interesting aside: The people at Chevy are beginning to get serious about fuel economy. Next year's model will have tire pressure gauges as standard. If you keep your tires correctly inflated you get far better fuel economy.