how the hybrids work

[acroyear]

Hybrid Cars: How They Work | LiveScience:

The basic problem with automobile gasoline engines is that, to let you blithely roar down the highway, they have to be designed for peak power demands. So, for crawling around the city, they're grossly inefficient. (For waiting at red lights, they are infinitely inefficient.)

In response, hybrids use a battery-powered electric motor in low-power situations, and a gas engine in high-power situations, switching back and forth automatically. The gas engine is simply switched off at red lights, and is often designed to operate in a narrow power range when it is switched on, making it more efficient. The battery is recharged by the gas engine. Generators attached to the brakes can also turn some of the braking momentum (normally lost as heat) into electricity for battery charging.

Of course, in the real world things are more complicated, and in the one we inhabit, hybrids fall into three classifications: full-court full hybrids, half-court mild hybrids and the plug-ins.

The is followed by details on the three styles, well worth reading before you go shopping...

Comments

[spicyapplegirl.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this informative link, Joe!

I wish the plug-ins were available: it seems to me that it makes more environmental sense to make a car that runs mainly on electricity, with occasional help from a gas engine (a plug-in), than the other way around (a Prius).

*sigh* Not that any of it matters -- buying a hybrid doesn't make sense for my work commute, which is 48 miles round-trip, almost all of it on the freeway at 65 mph (hooray for driving against traffic!) So, I will happily drive my 35-40 mpg Civic until I need to buy a new car, and then get a new high mpg car when I purchase one later this year. Until I can buy a plug-in (or some other alternative energy vehicle), I guess I'll just focus on recycling and other environmental efforts. :)

~Apple