Contents
What Is a Hybrid Car?
How Hybrid Cars Work
Types of Hybrid Cars
How to Understand Automakers’ Gas Mileage Claims
Will a Hybrid Car Save You Money?
Environmental Benefits of Hybrids
How to Buy a Hybrid Car
The Hybrid Driving Experience
Hybrid Car Gasoline-Saving Tips
Hybrid Car Maintenance
The Future of Hybrid Cars
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- The way hybrid cars operate and the types of hybrid vehicles available
- Tips for buying the right car and maximizing your driving experience
- The cost-effectiveness and environmental benefits of hybrid cars
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What Is a Hybrid Car?
A hybrid vehicle is any vehicle that uses two or more sources of power in order to move or operate. Likewise, a hybrid car is an automobile that runs on multiple sources of power. The most common hybrid cars on the market today combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor to reduce gasoline use while providing all the power of a conventional gasoline-powered car.
The History of Hybrid Cars
During the early days of the automobile, cars ran off of steam, gasoline, electricity, or some combination of the three. As early as 1898, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche manufactured a car that combined an internal combustion engine with an electrical battery. In 1913, the Ford Motor Company perfected the self-starting gasoline engine, making it much easier for consumers to start their cars. Soon after, the gasoline engine became the main source of car power.
Hybrids Return
Hybrids once again began to garner public interest in the 1960s, when the U.S. Congress recommended electric vehicles as a way to reduce air pollution. Inventors looked again at electric and hybrid cars, with some limited success:
- In 1969, GM built a workable hybrid, but the car had limited power and a maximum speed of just 40 mph, and it never got past the concept stage.
- In 1974, Victor Wouk and his partner, Charlie Rosen, modified a Buick Skylark to run partly on batteries that recharged while driving. The car failed to get the governmental support it needed to go into production.
New Millennium Hybrids
In recent years, a number of factors have aligned that make hybrid cars more attractive to automakers and consumers alike:
- New technologies: The development of new hybrid technologies have made hybrid cars more feasible for automakers to build and more affordable for consumers to buy.
- Rising gasoline prices: As gasoline prices have increased in the early years of the twenty-first century, the savings that hybrid vehicles provide for their owners have likewise increased.
- Environmental considerations: In recent years, a scientific consensus has emerged regarding the threat of global warming, a phenomenon in which human activity— particularly the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and gasoline—causes a buildup of greenhouse gases that trap heat and cause the Earth’s temperature to rise. As people have become concerned about global warming, they have begun to look for new ways to limit their use of fossil fuels. Hybrid cars provide one way to do this.
- Political concerns: Recent global events have created a concern among Americans about the country’s dependence on foreign oil. In turn, Americans have become increasingly eager to find ways to reduce the amount of oil and gasoline they use.
Given these four factors, the market for hybrid cars has exploded since Toyota introduced its first Prius to Japan in 1997 and Honda brought the Insight to America in 1999. Today, several automakers produce at least one hybrid vehicle, and most are struggling simply to keep their production of hybrids high enough to meet consumer demand.
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