Hybrid Autos – A Simple Small Guide To Hybrid Cars
Posted by admin at 17 July 2015, at 13 : 15 PM
Hybrid autos are the future. Any vehicle that combines two or more source of energy is considered as hybrid. The most popular models on the market today are Honda Insight, Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid, Lexus GS 400. All of these vehicles are in fact hybrid electric vehicles, because they combine an electric motor with an internal combustion engine.
There are different ways in which engineers combine the two power sources. One is the parallel method, in which the car can be powered by the gas engine only, the electric motor only, or both at the same time. The other type is series hybrids, like the Insight and Civic Honda’s, where the electric motor assists the gasoline engine only in certain moments, like when accelerating or at times of heavy load.
There are a lot of functions used in hybrid vehicles to decrease the fuel consumption. The Regenerative Braking function transform the kinetic energy produced whenever you hit the brakes into electric energy to restore the power of the batteries. This is done by the electric motor which works in this case as a generator charging the batteries. In other words, every red light will recharge your batteries. To maximize the power of regenerative braking, it’s important to stop smoothly and gradually. Hybrids are produced using extremely lightweight and yet strong materials.
No matter the type of car, reducing its weight always leads to increase of the mileage, because lighter vehicles require less energy to accelerate or drive up a hill. Engineers achieve that by constructing the cars using composite materials such as carbon fiber or lightweight metals aluminum, magnesium. All the latest models are first tested in wind tunnels to get the best possible aerodynamics, which reduces drag and hence lowers the fuel consumption.
Hybrid cars provide two major benefits that make them so important for our future. The fist one of course is the improved gas mileage as you can go much further with the same amount of gasoline compared to traditional models. Both benefits are related. The other one lays in the fact that the improved gas consumption leads to reduced CO2 emissions.
It’s logical that decreased consumption leads to decreased emissions. Emissions are measured in grams per mile, or g/mi. The new Low Emission Vehicle standard allows 3.4 g/mi of carbon monoxide.
There are some tips specifically related to optimizing the gas mileage of hybrids. First one of course is to drive slower. Next one is to try to maintain a constant speed. Another one is to avoid sudden stops whenever you can and also rapid accelerations. As you read already, the Regenerative Braking function is triggered by stopping smoothly and gradually.