We are all intimate withgasoline - powered railroad car , and most hoi polloi have hear about or seenelectric gondola . A hybrid auto is a combination of the two . A hybrid fomite contain parts of both gasoline and electric vehicle in an attempt to get the best of both domain .

The best way to read the advantage of a hybrid vehicle is to think about a car traveling down a highway at the posted speed on degree priming . In this font , the engine is doing three things :

The engine might need to produce no more than 10 or 20horsepower(HP ) to hold this load . The grounds why cars have 100- or 200 - horsepower engine to is handle speedup from a standing stop , as well as for passing and hill climbing . We only use the maximal HP valuation for 1 % of our driving time . The respite of the metre , we are conduct around the weight and the friction of the much larger engine , which run off a lot of energy .

In a traditional intercrossed vehicle , you have a complete electrical car . It includes anelectric motorto provide all of the baron to the wheels , as well asbatteriesto add the motor with electricity . Then you have a completely separategasoline enginepowering agenerator . The engine is very modest – perhaps 10 to 20 horsepower – and it is design to run at just one speed for maximum efficiency . The purpose of this small , effective engine is to provide enough power for the car at its cruising speed . During times of acceleration , the batteries allow the extra superpower necessary . When the car is decelerating or bear still , the batteries reload . This kind of intercrossed gondola is basically an electric railcar with a progress - in recharger for longer kitchen stove . The advantage is that the small , efficient gasoline engine gets great gasoline mileage .

intercrossed Car Image art gallery

The only problem with a traditional hybrid car is theweight . The automobile has to carry the exercising weight of the electric motor , the generator , the gas engine and the batteries . You do n’t need as many batteries as a virtuous galvanic railroad car , so that saves some weight unit , but a full - size electric motor plus a 10 - kilowatt generator can weigh several hundred pounds .

The Honda Insight in fussy tries to come across a compromise . It uses a larger gasoline locomotive engine that is connected instantly to the drive railroad train , along with a thin electric motor sequester to the engine . The gasoline engine provides most of the railroad car ’s power , with the electrical motor adding excess power as needed for speedup . Because the electric motor can duplicate as a source duringbrakingand only has to take to the woods part of the time , it is exceedingly calorie-free . The disadvantage of this approach is that the gasoline engine must run at diverge speeds , which reduces its efficiency .