Hybrid Car Benefit

"Is it Fuel Efficient? That may not always be the case with a Hybrid..."

Hybrid cars are a hit!  Hybrid Car Benefit - They have been well accepted by car buyers in recent years.

..........With gas prices likely to remain well above two dollars per gallon, most people are looking for an alternative that will save them a few dollars when they fill up. 

Others are looking for a vehicle that does not degrade the environment. That is exactly why hybrid cars have become automotive stars.  

These cars work when a gas engine, an electric motor, and a battery system are combined.

The hybrid's battery is continually recharged during the course of a typical driving experience.  That means the car never has to be plugged to recharge batteries.

The technology continues to evolve, but  essentially there are two types of hybrid vehicles. 

 
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Number one is the hybrid which uses the electric motor for assistance purposes only. With this design the gas engine provides the major power for the car. The electric motor is not configured to operate alone. It can generate electricity to charge the battery or draw electricity from the battery to power the electric motor, but it can't do both simultaneously. 

Currently the other popular type of hybrid car is one which uses both technologies independently. With low speed and low power situations, the electric motor works without the gasoline engine. When the vehicle reaches higher speeds or requires a greater amount of power, the gasoline engine kicks in and takes over the task of powering the vehicle.

When the vehicle requires more hybrid power, as when accelerating, both the gas and the electric components of the car begin working together to generate the necessary horsepower to reach the desired speed.
This type of hybrid vehicle can make and use electricity at the same time, unlike the first design we described. 

Despite their popularity, many critics of the vehicles say that hybrids are not always fuel efficient.

In the past hybrid vehicles have been considered to be too small and too slow.  Small and slow does not sell cars, so auto makers are increasing the size and power of recent produced hybrids. Now even sport utility vehicles can be purchased as hybrid models. That has satisfied demand and brought more car buyers into the hybrid fold. 

The proliferation of hybrid transportation is expected to continue to rise over the course of the next several years.  Because of the demand for increased power, the demand for increased fuel efficiency has taken something of a backseat in the newer vehicles.  Expert observers expect more power to be added in the not to distant future.

While the new engine designs are technically capable of being more fuel efficient, most are not because of the increased power and speed.  This has occurred because of consumer demand.  As the vehicles get heavier and heavier, the fuel efficiency plunges on a downward spiral. It takes more power to run those heavier cars.

That increased power has to come from somewhere, and in this case, it comes from the gas tank. While hybrids have increase performance they have given up fuel efficiency to that increase in power and acceleration. 

As this is written, the Honda Accord Hybrid, gets only an extra two miles per gallon of gasoline as compared to its non-hybrid Accord counterpart.  Most auto makers see this as a necessary evil, but only for the time being.   

Many believe that if we want hybrid vehicles to become the transportation choice for the masses manufacturers will have to make them competitive with the performance of conventional cars.  To be successful they insist hybrids most offer about the performance characteristics as those provided by the traditional internal combustion engine. 

Just be aware that you have a choice - You can get exactly what you want, but not in the same vehicle.  You can get fifty to sixty miles per gallon with a hybrid if you want to drive a small two seat type vehicle with limited cargo space.

If you must have a sport utility vehicle to meet your driving needs, and you want to purchase a hybrid, you had better be prepared to sacrifice gas mileage for that increased power vehicle. 

Auto manufacturers must please everyone as often as possible to stay in business. As a result, they are continually fine tuning the technology behind the autos they produce.  Over the course of the next several years, it is quite likely that we will see hybrid vehicles that offer everything we want in both power and fuel efficiency.

For now, though, most people are happy with slightly more efficient vehicles even as prices and waiting lists for hybrids go up.