What is a Hybrid Electric Car -- A Basic Primer
Unless you live in a very small cave, it would be difficult for you not to have at least heard of the term or phrase “hybrid electric car.” However, despite the fact that most men and women have at least heard of the hybrid electric car, very few people actually truly understand what a hybrid electric car is and how it functions. These people do not appreciate the pluses and minuses of owning a hybrid electric car.
Thus, for many men and women, a basic primer on the salient points relating to a hybrid electric car is likely most useful and informative.
First and foremost, a large number of people assume that a hybrid electric car is something that you plug into the outlet in the garage when you return home to juice the thing up. These people believe that a hybrid electric car is a vehicle that probably will only make it to the local grocery market without having to be driven (or, perhaps pushed) back home for recharge. In short, this concept of a hybrid electric car is utterly false.
In point of fact a hybrid electric car is powered by a gasoline engine. However, the gasoline engine is not the only power source or resource within a hybrid electric car. Rather, a hybrid electric car has an additional electric motor as well as a much larger “second battery.” (It is the larger, “second battery” that is the power source for the companion electric motor.)
The concept behind the functioning of the electric motor is rather simple when all is said and done. In a hybrid electric car, when the driver is decelerating or braking -- when the gasoline engine does not need all of it is power resources to move the car onward -- the electric motor “runs backward” as a generator to recharge the “second battery.”
With the “second battery” being well charged, it serves as a power source for the car. When the automobile is completely warmed up after having been operated for a short period of time, the gasoline engine itself will shut off and the electric motor kicks in and powers the vehicle. For example, if the driver pulls up to a stoplight and will be left idling for a bit, the gasoline engine shuts down and the electric motor powers on -- automatically and flawlessly…a driver or passenger in the hybrid electric car will not even realize the transition has occurred.
As a final notation, the sticker price of the typical model of the hybrid electric car is not exorbitant. A person can “get into” a hybrid electric car with a retail price as low as $19,000.
Get the facts before you invest in a hybrid vehicle!