Hybrid Powered Cars of the Future

If we were to ask an individual to define a car or automobile today, they would almost certainly describe a vehicle with a gasoline powered engine.  Maybe one or two would talk about diesel power, but virtually everyone would describe a petroleum-powered vehicle. But there is a new wind blowing.  Hybrid powered vehicles could dramatically shift our perception of what a car or automobile is.  In a few years our kids or grand kids may not answer that question in the same way that we did.

Petroleum-based fuels were ideally suited for internal combustion engine technology , which has powered most cars and trucks for over a century. Some claim that burning fossil fuels for over a hundred years, however, has done some serious harm to the ecology of the planet. Whether or not that is the case, is a discussion that will go on for a long time, but, without a doubt the price of this type of fuel has gone up dramatically in the past few years.  Enter the electric vehicle with lower emissions, but with correspondingly lower power.  Finally, both technologies have come together in hybrid vehicles, also known as hybrid electric vehicles or HEVs.

Present-day hybrid vehicles are equipped with both gas internal combustion engines and electric motors.  The gas engine produces power through small and sustained controlled explosions that push pistons which turn a rotating crankshaft.  The force created by the rotation of the crankshaft is transmitted through a number of parts and finally turns the vehicle’s wheels.  In the case of the electric powered vehicle, the motor is powered by a battery which creates energy through a chemical reaction.  The battery is continually recharged by a generator that is powered by the internal combustion engine.

Hybrid cars are of parallel or series design, or a combining of the two.

In parallel design vehicles, the electric propulsion system and the energy conversion units are tied directly to the vehicle’s wheels.  The gas engine is used for highway driving and the electric motor acts an aid and provides extra power for acceleration, hill climbing, and other situations that require more power.

In series design vehicles, the gas engine is connected to an electricity producing generator.  This electricity is used to power an electric motor, which in turn powers the vehicle’s wheels.  Hybrid vehicles can also be designed to use the series configuration at low speeds, and the parallel configuration for acceleration and highway driving.  As you can see, there are a number of possibilities when it comes to hybrid vehicles.  But there is even more engineering that helps to push up the energy efficiency of these vehicles.

Consider the braking system.  On conventional vehicles generates heat.  This energy is normally wasted.  Today, some hybrid vehicles convert this energy to electricity and use it to help propel the vehicle.  This process is called regenerative braking and contributes to the broad efficiency of HEV’s.

Other hybrid vehicles stretch out the life of the car’s on-board battery system by using ultracapacitors.  The ultracapacitor is more efficient than a battery for capturing the energy from regenerative braking and utilizing it for initial acceleration.