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Should you Buy a Hybrid Vehicle?

With the various tax incentives on offer, and increasing concern about both pollution and future fuel prices, it is not hard to see why HybridVehicles are becoming more popular.

Most of us know by now that a Hybrid Vehicle has two sources of power;an electric motor and the good ol' Internal Combustion Engine (ICE).However, most people don't know much beyond that so let's go deeper:let's cut through the jargon and have a look at how Hybrid Vehiclesactually work.

Hybrid vehicles are usually based on two main designs; a paralleldesign, or a series design.

With a parallel design, the electric motor and ICE are both connecteddirectly to the vehicle's wheels. The ICE is used for normal driving;the electric motor provides additional power during acceleration, hillclimbs and other occasions of high demand.

With a series design, the ICE is connected to a generator which is usedto charge the batteries. It is the batteries which actually power thewheels via the electric motor.

Some hybrid vehicles use the series design at low speeds, and theparallel design for highway driving and acceleration.

Regenerative braking: normally the deceleration of a vehicle is wastedenergy; not so with Hybrids. Hybrids can use regenerative braking tocapture and store the energy lost in slowing down the vehicle aselectricity. The electricity can later be used to propel the vehicle.This increases the overall efficiency of the vehicle as energy that wasotherwise wasted is being stored and used again later.

Also energy that would otherwise be wasted while idling or cruising canalso be stored for later use. While cruising the ICE uses a lot of fuelin proportion to the actual work going into driving the wheels. Thismakes it particularly inefficient at those times. To increase efficiencysome of the output from the ICE is fed to a generator to charge thebatteries when the vehicle is cruising or travelling downhill.

Another clever trick is that the electric motor normally used to drivethe wheels can be used as the generator. This is how the regenerativebraking process, and the system for charging the battery during engineidling, generate electricity. At those times the electric motor is notneeded for propulsion, therefore, the ability of an electric motor tooperate in 'generator' mode is utilised so that a separate generator isnot required.

Vehicles which use the parallel or series design are sometimes known asFull Hybrids. Other types of Hybrids such as the Assist Hybrid and MildHybrid are basically just normal vehicles with a bit of electrical powersupplied at crucial moments. They may also offer Regenerative Braking.However, this kind of vehicle only provides about a 10% increase in fueleconomy and it is open to question as to whether the extra complexity isworthwhile.

Is the future of hybrid diesel?

The future of hybrids may very well lie in the diesel motor. Dieselengines operate at higher efficiency than petrol engines so deliver moremiles to the gallon, plus they are more reliable. Their maindisadvantage has always been poor acceleration, but in a hybrid this isnot an issue as it can be offset with extra propulsion from the electricmotor.

In addition, diesel engines can run on biofuels such as vegetable oiland the like. Such fuels are relatively clean and are not the dirtystuff often associated with diesel propulsion. Biofuels can be obtainedin a sustainable way and the costs are relatively independent of oilproduction and oil prices.

The combination of reliability, fuel economy (prototypes have achievedover 110 mpg US fuel economy) and sustainable sources of fuel, makes thediesel-engine based hybrids not only likely, but inevitable. This willhopefully give us breathing space till fuel cell technology matures.

Should you Buy a Hybrid Vehicle?

Here are some resources to help you decide:

You can check out this comparison charthttp://go.ucsusa.org/hybridcenter/compare_chart.cfm which will helpyou compare some hybrids with non-hybrids and a reference list of allFederal and State incentives for prospective hybrid ownershttp://go.ucsusa.org/hybridcenter/incentives.cfm .

Some topical articles; Buyers of hybrid cars get a pleasant surprisehttp://www.rocklintoday.com/news/templates/automotive_news.asp?articleid=3110&zoneid=1and one persons experience of the Cost of Owning a Hybrid carhttp://www.hybridcars.com/blogs/sans-suv/apples-oranges.

Consumer Reports have now admitted that they made an error when theysaid owners of hybrid vehicles would pay more than buyers of comparablegasoline-only vehicles over their lifetime of ownership. Owners of theToyota Prius and Honda Civic hybridshttp://www.hybridcars.com/news/news.php?news_id=832 do save money, themagazine now says.

If you want more in-depth technical information try What is a HybridElectric Vehicle?http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/hev/what_is_hev.html/ whichincludes a nice simple overview of hybrid vehicle designhttp://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/hev/hev_components.html and thepage Hybrid Electric Vehicleshttp://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/hev/hevs.html has clear technicalexplanations.

Wikipedia has a well written Hybrid vehiclehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_car entry which includes bothtechnical and ecological issues.

If all that is not enough for you try the Hybrid Electric Vehicle bloghttp://hybridblog.typepad.com which has lots of good info and links.

About the Author

William F Martin offers holistic tips and advice. Check out these
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History of Hybrid Vehicle

Some people do believe that hybrid vehicle started in the early 1900’s. In fact, hybrid vehicles have been around longer than you think they are.  The start of the hybrid technology was believed to be in 1665, when Ferdinand Verbiest and Jesuit priest began to work on a plan to create a simple four wheeled vehicle that could run by steam of pulled by a horse. Then in 1769 when steam-powered carriage was invented. Although this carriage does have the speed of six miles per hour, it is still hard to maintain enough steam for a long distance ride.  It was then improved when British inventor Goldsworthy Gurney built a steam car that successfully completed an 85 mile round trip journey in ten-hour times. Then in 1893 Moritz Von Jacobi sailed an electric boat on the Neva, using an electromagnetic engine of one horse power.  And in or about that year is when Robert Anderson of Aberdeen, Scotland built the first electric vehicle. However, the vehicle brought lots of problems like the limited range and a battery power that was difficult to recharge.  It was later then improved by David Salomon in 1870 when he developed an electric car with a light electric motor, but still faced problems creating a battery that could easily be recharged.  Then in 1879, the first electric railway was built by Dr. Werner Von Siemens. The wheels on the vehicle were driven by an electric motor drawing its electricity from the rails which were insulated from the ground and connected to a generator.  And also in that decade, year 1886 the business investors in London gained interest in developing an electric taxicab. The design was powered by a 28 cell batter system that would drive a small electric motor. Even so, this one did not come into regular use.  It then came year 1888, a company built a four passenger carriage for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire it is powered by a one horse power motor and a 24 cell battery.  And on that same year, Manus Volk in Brighton, England made a three wheeled electric car.  Then in 1897, the London Electric cab Company began to provide the city with a regular service, using a cab powered by a 40 cell battery and a three horse power electric motor. It was called the “Belsey Cab” after its inventor, Walter Belsey. The cab can go up to fifty miles before the battery had to be recharged.  Come year 1897 where the Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, built around electric cars over a two year period.
Then after that year came 1898, the year where the first world’s first hybrid car the Lohner Porsche petrol electric “mixte”,  which was built by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche of Germany. Porsche gave the nickname “Aunt Eulalia” to the first series of hybrids, but it was officially named as Semper Vivus, which means “always alive. The first hybrid car can travel a distance of forty miles on a battery power alone. This car used a petrol engine rotating at a constant speed to drive a dynamo, which charged a bank of accumulators. The accumulators then fed current to electric motors contained within the hubs of the front wheels. Therefore, there was no need of drive shafts, transmission, gears, straps, chains, or clutch. And because of the hybrid car quickly success thousands of hybrid cars were produced by companies such as Krieger, Lohner Porsche, and Auto Mixte in the year between 1902 and 1920.  
In 1900 the creation of gas and electric hybrid cars has been seen in Belgium. It was developed by Pieper, a Belgian carmaker.  He introduced a three and a half horsepower motor which the small gasoline engine was joined to an electric motor that is found under the seat. The electric motor was, in effect, a generator that recharges the batteries while driving. Nevertheless, when the car needed some extra power to make its way up to a steep incline, the electric motor would kick in and provide a boost to the gas engine. And because of the popularity of electric hybrid cars the Electric Vehicle Company built 2000 taxicabs, trucks, and buses, and set up a subsidiary cab and car rental companies from New York to Chicago in early 1904. In 1905 an American engineer named H. Piper filed a patent for a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. His idea was to use an electric motor to assist an internal combustion engine, mainly to add the ICE to let the vehicle accelerate to 25 miles per hour in 10 seconds, Instead of the usual 30 miles per hour. Then after three and half years the patent was issued. By that time, the engines had become powerful enough to achieve this kind of performance of their own.
In 1910, a company by the name of Commercial Built Truck, which used a four cylinder gas engine to power a generator, eliminates the need for a transmission and Battery Park. This hybrid was built by company in Philadelphia until 1918. Steamers and electric hybrid cars were almost completely wiped out in 1913. Sales of electric cars dropped to 6,000 vehicles, while over 180,000 gasoline cars were sold. Lots of car makers who still believe in the idea of hybrid car still try their best to put the hybrid cars back to the production. Like Baker of Cleveland and Woods of Chicago two prominent electric vehicle makers offered hybrid cars that can reach a maximum speed of 35mph and achieved fuel efficiency of 48 mph. And the Woods Dual Power was more expensive and less powerful than its gasoline competition, and therefore sold poorly.
And it then considered that the year 1920 to 1965 become the dormant period for mass produced electric and hybrid cars. However, Hybrid vehicle technology did not disappear and its development continues. Lots of people still believe in the hybrid technology. Hybrid vehicle technology becomes the answer for most of the global problems. Just like in 1966; U.S Congress introduced first bills recommending use of the electric vehicle as a means to reduce air pollution. After a long quiet period, hybrid cars show up again in 1969. On that same year  General Motors 512 was designed, it runs entirely on electric power at a speed under ten miles per hour. The vehicle ran on a combination of electric power and gas combustion from 10 to 13 miles per hour. Arab oil embargo became a huge problem in 1973. The price of gasoline soared, which created new interest in electric vehicles. The U.S Department of Energy ran a test on many electric and hybrid vehicles produced by various of manufacturers this includes the hybrid known as the VW Taxi which was produced by Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, West Germany. The VW Taxi was shown at auto shows throughout the United States and Europe. It used a parallel hybrid configuration allowing flexible switching between the gasoline engine and electric motor and logged over 8,000 miles on the road. VW Taxi is considered to have the higher range of efficiency than any hybrid had ever exhibited up to that time.  In 1974, engineers Victor Wouk and Charlie Rosen were part of the Federal Clean Car Incentive Program, created a prototype hybrid gas electric vehicle using a Buick Skylark body. The vehicle was tested and certified to meet the strict guidelines for an EPA clean air auto program by The U.S Environmental Protection Agency, but later been rejected. The American Motors developed a fleet of electric powered vans and delivered 352 electric vans to the U.S Postal Service, which they tested extensively. Unfortunately, the project did not meet with the level of success that everyone had hoped.  The years 1976 to 1980 were the year that hybrid technology has been a good help. The Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976 and U.S Congress enacted Public Law 94-413 were among  the law’s  objective to work with industry to improve batteries, motors, controllers and other hybrid electric components. And General Electric was chosen to construct a parallel hybrid sedan. And Toyota built a small sports car with a gas turbine generator supplying current to an electric motor, which makes it the first hybrid car for Toyota.  Audi introduced the first generation of the Audi Duo experimental vehicle in 1989. It is based on the Audi 100 Avanti Quattro. It has a 12.6 horsepower electric engine, which drove the rear wheel instead of the propeller shaft. And also use a nickel cadmium battery to supply the energy. Two years after that, Audi unveiled the second generation Duo, which is also based on the Audi 100 Avanti Quattro. Toyota came back by introducing the Prius in 1997, which is exclusive to its Japanese market. On that year, the Prius sold 18,000 cars and seemed to be the first significant mass marketed the hybrid vehicle in the world. Then Honda introduced the Insight, a lightweight hybrid two door model that cracked the American market in 1999. The vehicle could demonstrate a rating of 61 miles per gallon in the city and 70 miles per gallon on the highway.    
It then came 2000 the door of the new century is open for the hybrid technology. Lots of companies and car maker introduce and release lots of new and improve the hybrid vehicle of their own. Toyota released the first hybrid four door sedans available in the United States in 2000. And Honda introduces Honda Civic Hybrids, its second available hybrid gasoline electric car. The car appearance and drivability was and still is identical to the conventional Civic.  And in 2004 Toyota release the Toyota Prius II which won 2004 Car of the Year Awards from the Motor Trend Magazine and the North American Auto Show. The demand for Toyota Prius II was surprising, that they pumped up the production from 36,000 to 47,000 for the United States market. Lots of interested buyer’s waited up to six months to purchase the 2004 Prius. Furthermore, on September of that year, the Ford released the Escape Hybrid, the first American hybrid and the first SUV hybrid.  
The sudden increase of the oil product in 2007 had been a huge crisis all over the world. And because of that the production of hybrid cars and vehicle had increased. Lots of car companies and car makers around the world came up with lots of different kinds of hybrid vehicles. Some even convert their ordinary cars to hybrid cars. Lots of taxi cabs in the Philippines now a day’s had been using Autogas, used as an automotive transportation fuel or LP gas as an alternative to powered gasoline gas. The development of this kind of hybrid cars does help a lot of people who are having a problem with the oil price increase and become the answer to the oil price increase the problem in air pollution.

About the Author

Hi I'm Shiela 30 years old. I love chatting and making friends. I enjoy listening to music reading books and watching movies. I am hoping i could make a good article and help other people. If you want to buy new or used car you can come and visit us at 645 North Main Street Layton, UT 84041 or call us at (866) 798-9527. You can also visit us in our website at Young Chevrolet.

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