Are Hybrid Cars Truly Environmentally Friendly?
August 20, 2010 by Mixture Car
Filed under hybrid car forum
Are hybrid cars truly environmentally friendly? That’s the question that many consumers are asking and for good reason. If you’re trying to make a change in your life and do more to help protect the environment, then purchasing a hybrid may be at the top of your list. However, this is a big step and you need to make sure you’re getting what you pay for so, you need to know if they really help the environment.
To determine whether or not hybrid cars are truly environmentally friendly, you need to understand how they work. Hybrids use the technology that built the gasoline engine and combined it with new technology that created the electric car, hence the name, hybrid. By combining these two inventions together a car was created that meets the requirements needed to be considered functional on the open road.
To meet these requirements hybrid cars must be able to travel at least 300 miles before it needs to be recharged. It must be able to travel at or above the minimum posted speed limit to avoid hindering traffic and the refueling process should be easy to do. The hybrid can do all three of these efficiently.
Since these cars use two types of power sources they use smaller engines that make the cars lighter, which has many benefits. They are also made from light-weight materials. Lighter vehicles require less energy to accelerate and this reduces the consumption of fuel needed to run the vehicle. As a result, your cost for fuel is also reduced so this is another way in which you can save money.
There are two types of hybrids on the market today and they are called the parallel hybrid and the series hybrid. They function differently so it’s important to understand how they work in order to determine which one would be the most environmentally friendly and suited for your needs. In the series hybrid the engine will not directly power the vehicle because the engine powers a generator that in turn charges the electric motor or batteries that actually turns the transmission.
The transmission in the parallel hybrid car is powered by both the motor and the engine. The engine is provided power by the fuel and the electric motor is powered by the battery. Putting on the breaks generates energy that is recovered and used to recharge the batteries which is very efficient.
In order to be considered environmentally friendly, the vehicle needs to be free of carbon emissions that pollute the air. The hybrid car runs off of both electricity and gasoline so they do still cause some pollution but not nearly as much as the all gasoline vehicle does. For this reason, it’s safe to say that hybrid cars are truly environmentally friendly and would probably be a good investment.




