Have you ever asked yourself about hybrid cars? They certainly look stylish and modern, but what is it about them that makes them so unusual and so special? After all, many cars look the same these days, do they not? They are all designed by computer to be aerodynamic and aerodynamic is aerodynamic, so they all end up looking impossible to tell apart to anyone who is not an aficionado.
Well, the fact is that the distinction between a hybrid car and a standard car lies under the bonnet. There are various types of hybrid vehicles as well, but the most common sort has a hybrid electric engine. Therefore, you could say that what makes hybrid cars different from most other, ordinary cars is their engine.
Or engines actually, because hybrid electric cars essentially have two engines. One, the internal combustion engine, runs on petrol, LPG or diesel and the other, the electric motor, runs off electricity stored in an array of powerful batteries. On the other hand, normal cars only have an internal combustion engine. It is a good idea to investigate these two types of engine separately.
First of all the electric motor. Electrical energy is created by various components on the car and stored in a large bank or array of heavy-duty batteries. The electricity is generated by the turning of the internal combustion engine, just as with a standard car, when it is in use, but also by the wheels or / and the car’s braking system. Different models have different techniques of generating this electricity, but they are all very hi-tech and very efficient.
When the car’s internal computers decide that the car no longer needs the strength of the internal combustion engine, it will turn it off and switch to the electric motor instead. The circumstances where this might happen are, for instance, when you are driving slowly in inner-city traffic, when you are cruising at moderate speed on a flat motorway or when you are going down hill. This saves a considerable amount of fuel, which is clearly a great saving to you.
However, there are times when you need more power than the batteries can give you, for instance, when accelerating hard, when overtaking or when climbing a hill. At times such as these, the electric motor will close down and the combustion engine will take over and start supplying power to the accelerator and electricity to the batteries. When the need for extra power has passed, the batteries will take over again.
These choices are all taken by the hybrid electric vehicle’s (HEV’s) on board computer system and you will not notice much other that a rush of power or a quietening of the propulsion system. This works very well in most cases, but some drivers of HEV’s would like to have a manual override for unusual circumstances, such as an undulating landscape.
All in all, cars with hybrid electric engines work very well at reducing fuel bills but they are still too dear to be much more than a gimmicky toy and a salve to the conscience for the rich.
Tags: city traffic, duty batteries, electric engines, hybrid car, hybrid cars, hybrid electric cars, internal combustion engine, internal computers, many cars, moderate speed