I’ve been thinking about this topic for a good while now and decided, hey, why don’t I blog about it?
Hybrid cars… they are getting more attention as of late due to rising gas prices. The majority of these hybrid cars are gas / electric and claim to get 50+ MPG on average. That sounds great, right? So why then aren’t more hybrid vehicles being purchased?
Early hybrid vehicles were hideous in design and stuck out like a sore thumb beside “real” cars. Just recently have auto manufacturers started making hybrid cars that actually look like real cars. This is a welcomed step in the right direction and perhaps the biggest reason for the recent success of hybrids.
The next hurdle for hybrids was power. Many of the early hybrid models were seriously lacking in the horsepower department. That has all changed now, as the hybrid technology has greatly matured in a very short time. Now you can have the best of both worlds - great gas mileage and plenty of umph when you mash the accelerator!
I think one of the biggest things that is holding back hybrid cars is a lack of knowledge from the general public. Many people that I have talked to do not fully understand how a hybrid works. Do you need to plug it in at night or change out the batteries every day? I actually had to research the answer for this, as I realized myself that I really had no clue how they worked!
Hybrid cars do not need to be plugged in to recharge their batteries. Recharging takes place while you are driving - how convenient! The gasoline engine and electric motor work together to recharge the batteries. For example, in a normal car, when you let off the accelerator and press the brakes, you simply slow down. In a hybrid, when you press the brakes, the electric motor doubles as a generator, converting some of the stopping power to recharge the batteries. The hybrid also recharges itself when the car is operating 100% on the gasoline engine.
The electric motor and batteries on many of the newer hybrids are designed to never need servicing and should last the life of the vehicle. Whether or not this holds true has yet to be seen; only time will tell. From everything I have read, hybrids seem to be the vehicles of the futures (BTW, I’m still waiting on my flying car from the Jetsons). They are much cheaper to operate than regular gasoline vehicles, are more environmentally friendly and reduce our dependence on oil.
So in closing, do you own a hybrid? Or would you even consider purchasing one? Why or why not?
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