A vehicle is a hybrid if it utilizes more than one form of onboard energy to achieve propulsion. In practice, that means a hybrid will have a traditional internal-combustion engine and a fuel tank, as well as one or more electric motors and a battery pack. Hybrid cars are sometimes mistakenly confused with electric vehicles. Hybrids are most often gasoline-burning machines that utilize their electric bits to collect and reuse energy that normally goes to waste in standard cars. Theoretically, diesel-electric hybrids would be even more fuel-efficient, but hybrid systems and diesel engines both represent extra cost. So far, installing both in the same vehicle has proven to be prohibitively expensive.
Hybrid Car Glossary
Below are the terms most often used when referring to hybrid vehicles.
Below are the terms most often used when referring to hybrid vehicles.
Motor-generator: The more accurate term for the electric motor. It provides supplemental acceleration "oomph" when operating as a motor by drawing electricity from the battery. Several hybrids have two, and a few models employ three.
Stop-start: Present on all hybrids, the engine's traditional starter motor is absent because the motor-generator takes on that function, too. Hybrid-control software shuts the engine off while stopped at traffic signals and automatically restarts it again with the electric motor when the driver releases the brake pedal. Eliminating the fuel waste of an idling gas engine causes overall mpg to climb significantly and tailpipe emissions to drop, especially in town.
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