The first type of cars that came to use and existence are the Internal Combustion engine cars. These are prevalent and most widely used everywhere. Although there are many advantages, research has been carried out for the known disadvantages and to cover even some of the disadvantages. The invention of Electric cars dusted the disadvantages but the people are not completely satisfied with the performance. Here comes the ultimate car by combining the efforts of both the cars known as Hybrid Vehicles.
A Hybrid vehicle is a type of a vehicle that generally uses two power sources for driving the motor. For instance, there are many sub marines that work on diesel supply at the top of the surface and work on batteries when traveling inside the water.
There are Parallel type and Series type of Hybrid cars. The Parallel type of hybrid car consists of both the power plants on the same side in parallel. On the other hand, the Series type of hybrid car consists of the power plant on either side. In Series, only one type of power plant can be put into use at a single time but in the Parallel, both the power plants can be put in to use which drives the vehicle must faster.
Regeneration is also present in the Hybrid Cars which helps the electric plant to generate more power by utilizing the help of Coasting or Braking of the vehicle. During this movement, the motor in the Hybrid car acts as a Generator and stores power for driving the vehicle. Hybrids usually have two batteries.
- Motive Battery
- Auxiliary Battery
As the motor sometimes acts as a generator, the power generated is stored in the large battery and Auxiliary battery is on the use at that time. A Cooling system is also present which must regulate the temperature of the power plants in the hybrid. It is not able to directly convert the heat of other power plant or system. So, the Inverter is present for converting the voltage stepping and thereby reducing the temperature. The Inverter is also known as Converter.
Electronic Control Unit does all its job and finally gets plugged in with hybrid. An On board charger controls the charging of the battery in the hybrid. There no need any special connection for charging. This is the only reason the hybrids cost you more than Combustion engine or Electric motor type vehicle. Mild Hybrids are manufactured currently by ECOTECH.
Chevy Cruze Eco is the best example of a Mild Hybrid. It just has an alternator which helps the engine powering up or boosting up.
Honda Insight is also a Hybrid model which comes in strong hybrids which have the ability to run only on electricity. This Electric motor can take up only for small distances from 80 to 120 miles. These types of hybrids have larger batteries and motors with a sophisticated power system where the engine and electric motor power gets used efficiently.
We have come up with a new idea of Plug In Hybrid. The main advantage of this hybrid is the extra source of battery. It packs a larger battery that can be charged externally with the help of an onboard power supply we usually have in our homes. Regeneration alone could never bring the complete juice. The only reason to implement this is to make them sufficient with enough juice left even after the complete use of the inner battery ( Motive and Auxiliary battery ). Chevy Volt is the best example of Strong Hybrid.
Performance Hybrids are used for obtaining high speed of 60 km/hr in just a few seconds, approximately 4 to 6 seconds. Lexus GS 460 is the best example of the Performance Hybrid. These cars completely rely on Torque generated. Porsche 918 Spyder also comes under Performance Hybrid with its level best in the Hybrids equipped with a 900 Horse Power for the bucks you spend.
Advantages of a Hybrid car–
- The biggest advantage of the Hybrid car is they does not pollute the environment. They are eco friendly with any type of environment we use.
- They does not depend on non renewable resources. They entirely depend on the renewable or electric energy. They are safe to use and also recuse the fuel cost for your drive.
- Whenever you apply the brake, the friction created can be used for charging up the battery. This helps the battery to charge quickly without any external power supply.
- Although the price of the car is very high or extreme, the resale value of the car is also high.
Even though the gasoline or crude oil prices are increased, you need not to worry about your journey.
Disadvantages of a Hybrid car–
- They produce less power when compared to the combustion of the fossil fuels. So, the torque generated will also be less.
- Like we have mentioned above, the only main drawback is the price of the car. It may be expensive. But we can expect a reduce in cost in the near future.
- The maintenance cost of the car may be very high as there is a motor that is related to the electric power and many wears may occur.
- There may be a high risk of explosion as we have a large capacity and high voltage battery in the car.
Though there are disadvantages, all the mentioned advantages dominate the disadvantages and I suggest everyone to give it a try.