When pulling away from a stop, the electric motor powers the car, drawing on the battery for power. Additional energy can be put into the batteries through regenerative braking. Just what is it inside of that car that allows it to get much better mileage -- something we all want, especially in the summer when gas prices, it seems, are always climbing -- than traditional vehicles? CAR magazine guide to hybrid cars All about PHEVs and hybrids Tech explained, jargon debunked Hybrid cars are partially electrified vehicles that … It’s actually drawing power from, or pumping power into, a set of nickel metal hydride batteries.

All Minis sold in Europe use this technology, as do the Saturn Vue and Aurora Greenlines. The Function The same technology has also been licensed out to Nissan and Ford, among others. Once again, the car becomes eerily silent (unless you are cranking the tunes). A hybrid vehicle contains parts of both gasoline and electric vehicles in an attempt to get the best of both worlds. The electric motor uses electricity from the battery and the generator as needed. The

A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, these cars have a super-sized starter.

AutoMD has put together the infographic embedded below in an attempt to help shed a little light on how hybrid engines function. To get the extra power for things like passing or climbing hills, the car uses its electric motor to support the gasoline engine.

At a stop, the stored energy can keep the vehicle functioning without burning any gasoline. It also knows when to pass power from the battery to the electric motor for acceleration. Lightning Hybrids, which builds aftermarket hybrid powertrains for fleet vehicles, uses a ... Wrightspeed, best known for manufacturing aftermarket hybrid powertrains for commercial trucks, ... Former UK science minister and racing driver Lord Paul Drayson is bringing his Drayson B12 ... We use cookies to improve your experience on this website and so that ads you see online can be tailored to your online browsing interests. Consumer Guide's Real World Fuel-Economy Champions, How Continuously Variable Transmissions Work. are always a bit of a hodgepodge of statistics culled from a variety of Because of the intermittent (but powerful) assist from the electric motor, the gasoline engine can achieve basically the same performance as a conventional car even when it has a smaller, more efficient size. What speed should I drive to get maximum fuel efficiency? For your entire ride, the computer will be calculating when to let the gasoline engine do all the work and how much of a boost it needs from the electric motor.

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. A hybrid car works is found in that it has two cooperative drive systems. The gasoline engine powers the wheels, and provides energy that’s stored in the hybrid batteries. Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, which uses energy stored in batteries. But what exactly is a hybrid vehicle, and how does a hybrid work?

