Hybrid Cars – What Is A Hybrid Car?
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A hybrid car is a vehicle that uses two or even more distinct sources of power in order to get propelled. There are all sorts of alternative power sources among which we can count wind, natural gas in liquid or compressed form, rechargeable units, wood, coal and the like. The term hybrid car or vehicle is used most frequently to refer to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in which an internal combustion engine is combined with one or more electric motors.
As pointed out in the lines above, the range of hybrid vehicles is more extended than the category of simple cars. Mopeds and electric bicycles make the most relevant of examples here. These are the simplest forms of hybrid vehicles. The combination between a gas engine or a battery and the physical power of the muscles is definitely superior. Then there are hybrid heavy vehicles like railway locomotives, buses, heavy goods vehicles, ships or mobile hydraulic machinery. Normally, the term hybrid car-vehicle is used to refer to hybrid electric vehicles. This range includes the next types of automotives: AHS2 (Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Silverado, Cadillac Escalade, Saturn Vue), Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight and many others. A gas-electric hybrid car usually gets its power from an internal combustion engine (gasoline or diesel engine) and an electric battery.
The beginnings of the hybrid car date back to the late 1900s when David Arthurs, an electrical engineer from Arkansas, invented the braking regenerative hybrid. Other than the combination of gas engine and electric motor, there are other propulsion sources used, but for a single engine only. Though there is a certain similarity to a hybrid car, distinctions do exist. In fact, vehicles with double or multiple energy sources are dual mode automotive systems of the trolley type.
A hybrid car presents a number of advantages from the environmental perspective and there are two sides to consider here. First of all, you get to do something for the environment and humankind, but you also save money on fuel. There is a triple combination of factors that make the design of a hybrid car so appropriate for our times: first there is the combination gas-electricity, secondly, the battery comes with a high storage capacity, and thirdly, the kinetic energy wasted by braking is recuperated and reused.
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