Hybrid Cars?

Question

What exactly is it that makes hybrid cars better for the environment? How do they work?

Answer 1

they use gas for when you are driving at a certain speed and past that speed it switches to electricity.

Answer 2

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a vehicle using an on-board rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) and a fueled power source for vehicle propulsion.

The different propulsion power systems may have common subsystems or components.

A hybrid vehicle provides better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle, because the engine is smaller and may be run at various speeds, providing more efficiency.

Answer 3

Yes I believe so !!!

Answer 4

Well, They would get better gas mileage because you are using your motor less.

But, know ones talking about dollars-per-mile for example: How much is it going to cost to maintenance this car or replace a component at the end of it's life cycle compared to today's internal-combustion machine!

Needles to say, all lower income families and some middle income families aren't going to be able to enjoy the benefits of cutting the string.

I doubt that it'll be any more economically feasible than any thing else!

It will be a good change, though and should remove the American dependence on foreign oil.

Answer 5

A simplified version: An small gasoline motor drives at a constant speed, its most efficient speed, constantly charging the batteries. The batteris drive the electric motors that propel the car.

Complex Version 2.0 When the car needs more power to climb or move faster, the small gasoline motor is able to put all its power to the wheels and none is used to recharge the batteries.

Complex Ver. 2.1 When the car is going downhill, the wheels drive the generator instead of the small gasoline motor, further reducing gasoline consumption.

Adv. Complex Ver. 3.0, The gasoline motor is replaced with one that uses pure ehanol fuel.

Adv. Complex Ver. 3.2. The batteries are replaced by those used in Notebook computers, with much greater capacity to give the car a greater range and fuel efficiency.

Adv. Complex Ver. 4.0, The gasoline motor is replaced with an a Hydrogen powered motor.

Answer 6

I'm not a mechanic; all I know is what I've been told.

Basic physics tells us that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. However, it can be harnessed for multiple purposes. You use up a certain amount of gas in a trade for kinetic energy (your movement). Every time you stop and accelerate, you must use up the same amount of gas again. However, as long as you keep moving, you only use gas to overcome the friction between the tires and road and the wind and the car.

That's where the hybrid concept comes in. They install a sort of battery that absorbs some of the energy being wasted when you stop at a stop-light/sign. That energy is used to maintain your engine while in idle, and to help accelerate you again.

Answer 7

Simply the fact they get better gas mileage than other cars of similar size.

They do this be not burning any fuel while sitting at stoplights, traffic, drive-thru's etc.  Also their engine shuts of while braking and coasting, and regenerates brake energy usually lost as heat to the brake rotors.   The car uses this regenerated electricity to help power the car so it uses even less gas to accelerate.

Right now with fuel prices so high, their extra cost quickly pays for itself.  

Hybrids are really the first real advancement in fuel economy (with the exception of electronic fuel injection in the mid 1980's) in over 100 years of the internal combustion engine.  (The model T ford got 24 mpg!)