Hybrid cars use a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor to save fuel and reduce emissions. There are three types of hybrid cars: series, parallel, and series/parallel. Hybrid technology is still developing, but hybrid cars are currently the most efficient and cleanest vehicles on the market.
There are cars on the market that are specifically designed to save fuel. These particular cars get the best mileage and are known as hybrids. Powered by a combination of a gasoline engine and an electric motor, hybrid cars get the best mileage because they use less fossil fuel, gasoline, to drive the vehicle. Much of the energy needed to power cars comes from the electric motor.
Today’s technology allows the electric motor in a hybrid car to simply assist the gasoline engine in powering the vehicle. This is accomplished in several ways:
(1) A series hybrid vehicle uses only the electric motor to drive the wheels, thus driving the vehicle, while the gasoline engine powers the generator to drive the vehicle or to recharge the batteries. Diesel-electric locomotives have relied on this type of hybrid system for over 60 years. All the major car manufacturers are working to develop cars that can effectively use series hybrid technology. This technology ensures that eventually these cars get the best mileage of all.
(2) A parallel hybrid vehicle, on the other hand, is powered by both its gas engine and an electric motor, each connected to the transmission. Therefore, both the gas engine and the electric motor power the vehicle as a whole. The Honda Civic, Insight and Accord hybrids are examples of the parallel hybrid concept. All of these cars get the best mileage, with some getting marginally higher miles per gallon (mpg) than others. Obviously, high mpg cars get the best mileage.
(3) Finally, there is the series/parallel hybrid car where the gasoline engine can power the wheels of the vehicle or can be disconnected to power a generator to recharge the batteries. The Ford Escape Hybrid and Toyota Prius are examples of series/parallel hybrid technology. Again, these cars get the best mileage using a different method to produce this efficiency.
Hybrid cars that get the best mileage are also cleaner vehicles. The less a car depends on its gasoline engine, the less greenhouse gases are produced by the car. Also, the more efficient the engine design and aerodynamics of the car, the less any type of engine has to run, which reduces harmful emissions.
Hybrid cars get the best mileage, but hybrid technology is essentially still in its infancy. The heavy, costly, and expensive batteries required for today’s hybrid vehicles reduce the potential of such cars. Hybrids are cars that get the best mileage now, but the future will bring all-electric cars that simply plug into a common household outlet to refuel, with no need for fossil fuel.
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