New BMW Hybrid Powered Car

If you are like most people today, you are trying to find some new ways to save money.  Saving money on the gas used by your car or truck is probably one of those concerns. It’s not an accident that many of the cars and trucks with great gas mileage for the 2008 model year were hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), also known as hybrid powered vehicles, or simply hybrids.

Hybrid powered cars are built in a variety of configurations to achieve different objectives, but gas savings is the most common goal of all of the designs.  They combine an electric motor with the best features of the internal combustion engine and are capable of significant improvements of fuel economy without giving up performance or driving range.  Some hybrids are also configured to supply power for power tools or other electrical devices. Continue Reading »

New Kia Hybrid powered car

While it may be hard to believe today, it was only a few years ago that the hybrid powered car was seen as a very poor idea for new cars.  There were many engineers who said, “We’re doing what? We don’t see a business case,’ ” Toyota’s senior regulatory engineer recently stated.

It simply seemed like too large a risk for an automaker to consider.  The eco-friendly hybrids seemed to  violate the most basic rule of fuel economy – cut out excess weight. Instead of high tech plastics, these new vehicles had a huge, heavy battery pack that cost more than any fuel it could save.  Or so it seemed at the time.  Sure, it worked, the conventional thinking was, but it was like using a sledgehammer, not a scalpel.

Eight years and tens of thousands of hybrid powered car sales later, almost everyone believes in hybrids. With fuel bouncing between $3.00 and $4 per gallon, hybrid powered cars are nearly sold out nationwide, and Toyota is rushing to build a plant in Mississippi to get more Prius models on the road, and virtually every other automobile manufacturer is working overtime to do the same.

Today’s wisdom seems to be that just about every car on the road could become a hybrid within a few years as every major automaker pushes forward with the technology. Continue Reading »

The history and technology of hybrid cars: The past, present and the future

New Honda Hybrid Powered Insight

Most people love their cars a lot and love to drive them, but with the constant skyrocketing of gasoline prices, a lot of people are pressed to think of alternatives. For those who want to cut back on fuel money, they may consider buying hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are a combination of the features of gasoline-powered vehicles and electric cars. The advantage that hybrid cars hold over conventional cars is that they produce fewer emissions and adds considerable mileage.

But first, where did these cars came from and how are they made? Continue Reading »