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While the term 'hybrid vehicle' is very appealing to the eco mentalist and environment-conscious celebrity, not all of them understand how a hybrid vehicle functions to deliver the 'claimed' higher fuel efficiency as compared to conventional vehicles. Or do they?
The hunt for environmentally friendly vehicles has been on for quite a while now. Alternative sources of fuel (such as biodiesel and hydrogen) may reduce tailpipe emissions from internal combustion engines or not produce any at all, but these fuel types are not available in sufficient quantities.
Electric vehicles are not much good either in the real world, although there are no emissions from them, they have a limited drivable range and the batteries take way too long to recharge. They are also very expensive to buy.
To overcome the drawbacks of an electric vehicle, the hybrid vehicle was created. Besides reducing emissions, it offers increased mileage and decent driving range.
Hybrid vehicles feature a powertrain that includes a traditional internal combustion engine as well as an electric motor, batteries and a generator, which are the same components as in an electric vehicle.
Hybrid vehicles are of two types: parallel hybrids and series hybrids.
Here is how parallel hybrid vehicles work:
The internal combustion engine on parallel hybrid vehicles is mated to an automatic transmission that powers the wheels of the car. At this moment you may be wondering, if the car is powered by an internal combustion engine, what good is the lot of batteries, a generator and the electric motor in a hybrid vehicle?
The concept here is that while the internal combustion engine is there to offer adequate drive power. On the other hand, the electric motor powered by the battery helps drive the wheels of the car at low speeds. The electric motor is what comes into play when a hybrid vehicle is started. Also, when a hybrid vehicle is idling the electric motor is running and powering various electrical components, this means there are no tailpipe emissions at that moment from the vehicle.
Step on the accelerator pedal and the electric motor drives the vehicle forward. Usually, hybrid vehicles can go up to speeds of about 50km/h on battery power alone.
The benefits of this is that a vehicle uses more energy to start moving from standstill to low speeds than it uses to increase its travelling speed under normal driving conditions. This is why a conventional vehicle consumes more fuel in stop start traffic. As a result, hybrid vehicles consume no fuel in stop and go traffic when the battery is charged.
The downside of electric motors in hybrid vehicles is that they are not powerful enough to allow a car to achieve medium or high speeds. This means that a hybrid vehicle will not be able to keep up with traffic on the road. Of course, this problem can be tackled by fitting a bigger motor and more batteries. However, doing this will take up a lot of space in the vehicle, rendering it impractical for day to day use. Also, the added weight of heavy batteries will increase fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions.
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