By now you’ve no doubt heard of, ridden in, or even driven a hybrid car. With the growing shift toward fully electric cars, hybrids are becoming more and more mainstream and available to the public. We know that they are great for the environment, but not many people actually know why, or know why a hybrid is called a hybrid. There are basically three parts of how a hybrid car works, and here’s what you need to know about them.
An electric battery
Electric batteries for cars are what make hybrids so significant. Cars shift from one power source to another seamlessly, and they run from the power in the electric battery as opposed to burning fuel. The way the battery holds a charge is what is referred to as regenerative braking, which means that when the driver applies the brakes, a bit of the energy from the battery goes back into it.
A traditional battery
The other batteries in hybrid cars are the traditional lead-acid 12 -volt batteries that are found in pretty much every other car on the road. These batteries generally power things like entertainment systems in cars, the heating and cooling systems, and the lights.
Gasoline
Lastly, hybrid cars do still run from the traditional gasoline power source that you pay for at the pump. The reason that hybrids get such great fuel economy is that they run from the electric battery as well as from the gasoline source. This is the reason hybrid fuel economy is so impressive; the cars do not always run from the gasoline fuel source.
The drawback of hybrid battery technology is that the batteries in hybrid cars often fail and long before the warranty and life of the car, so hybrid battery replacement is something that almost all hybrid owners will have to worry about. The good news is that the technology is improving and there are plenty of different replacement options which means that replacement is not need as often and when it is, it’s less expensive.