Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Imagine if you would, having a very small motor on a bicycle that is not powerful enough to move the bike from a standstill. In order for it to work, you first have to pedal to get it going, and once you do, then you can cruise effortlessly without pedaling. In this case, you as the power source for the bike to get moving, represents the electric battery powered engine that is used with an ordinary small gas engine for hybrid cars to get the car moving until the gasoline engine takes over.
What we're looking at is a car with two engines. One being electric for torque, and the gas engine for cruising once up to speed. The electric engine, just as a person does with a bike, provides the initial torque necessary to get moving until the engine is capable of taking over and providing the power to continue at any given speed.
Its the starting from a standstill that requires most of the power in order for the car to get up to speed. Once this is done with an ordinary car, all that power is wasted in gas as the car still consumes a certain amount of fuel to keep cruising, and it basically is an overkill for keeping that steady speed.
A hybrid is the best of both in that the electric engine provides all the power from a standstill to get to the cruising speed, and then the gas engine takes over, using very little fuel compared to the normally large engines. The beauty of it is that the batteries are charging while driving with the gas engine, and the braking also provides charging for the batteries as well.
These vehicles usually have batteries that can be recharged by plugging them into an electrical outlet. These extra batteries enable the car to go longer distances just on battery power. The car still is able to operate as a normal hybrid when needed, but the extra batteries are a matter of convenience as well as longer distances.
There are no emissions when using the batteries which makes for more environmentally friendly usage as it can travel longer distances without the use of the gasoline engine taking over.
As batteries get lighter and smaller, but retain a high capacity for producing the power needed, we can see a time where the only power needed to go long distances will be from the batteries themselves, but until that time arrives, we will have to depend on a combination of gas and battery power to get any distance from our vehicles.
A system whereas when going downhill, the batteries can be charging as the car would use the resistance of the electric engines to slow the car and charge the batteries at the same time. This also applies for when just having to slow down for a traffic light or stop sign.
A combination of good technology and the best components will offer us a means to travel a good distance without having to worry that we are damaging our environment, and this is what it's all about.
