Hybrid Cars

What do a Toyota Highlander, Mercury Mariner or a Chevrolet Tahoe have in common? Normally we would say they have efficient engines and mind blowing features. But, the most important thing is that they are hybrid cars. Let;s first understand what hybrids are. Hybrids are those products you get on combining two different elements. You must have got a basic idea of what a hybrid car is. They have the conventional I.C. engine along with the fuel tank, but they have an electric motor and a battery.


They emerged in the late 90's. The first hybrid car to enter the car was Toyota Prius in 1997. It was launched in Japan. Let's talk about some features of hybrid cars


Idle Off: This feature turns off your car's conventional engine when the vehicle stops and in turn saving the fuel. The battery provides energy for the air conditioning and other accessories. It is just like the light bulb in the refrigerator which turns off when the door closes.

Regenerative Braking: This one innovative feature that was developed. In the normal conventional cars, they rely on friction brakes and most of the kinetic energy is released. This feature allows you to store some of the energy in the batteries and can be used for running the motor and the engine.



Power Assist: This feature reduces the demands of the engine which in turn can be more efficiently used. The normal engine produces less power, but when combined with a motor it produces more power than a conventional engine.

Electric Only Drive: This feature allow you to drive entirely on electricity and thus saving the fuel. In those which you can't plug in, they operate on electricity at low and medium speeds. For high speeds the conventional engine comes into play.

All of these features make it is a potential and nation wide oil saving solution.

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