What is a Hybrid Vehicle?

Posted by admin on January 17, 2009

A hybrid vehicle is one that uses more than one type of propulsion.  Today’s hybrid vehicle incorporates the use of both petroleum based engine and an electric motor.

These are commonly referred to as (HEV’s) Hybrid Electric Vehicles.  With the soaring cost of gasoline, auto manufacturers are ramping up production of more hybrid models for consumers to choose from. Toyota and Honda were the first to market these vehicles and have led the pack ever since while the U.S. Big Three are finally realizing that they are falling (once again) behind in this technology.

There are four different principles to Hybrid Vehicle designs

A Hybrid Vehicle is any vehicle that uses more then one source to propel it. Generally, these types of vehicles contain a petrol motor (Gasoline or Diesel) and a secondary electric motor. Most of the Hybrids on the road today use the electric motor to offset the use of the petrol motor, thus extending the MPG of the vehicle. 
There are many people and grassroot organizations that are taking matters into their own hands by adding additional batteries to not only increase the MPG, but to run the vehicle directly on electric power. Plug-in kits and companies that supply them are gaining in popularity.

If you already have a Hybrid such as a Toyota Prius or Honda, you can extend your driving range while decreasing your MPG. 
Below, we look at the different types of Hybrid Vehicle technology that are in use today.

Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Parallel Drivetrains.

In a parallel hybrid electric vehicle, both the engine and the motor can drive the wheels . Both the Honda Insight and the Honda Civic Hybrid are parallel hybrids.
Parallel drive trains are mechanically more complicated than series drive trains. For one thing, a transmission is required to allow the engine to drive the wheels. Then there must be a means of coupling the engine, motor, and transmission. Finally, the controller necessary to make all these components work together is more complex than in the series drive train.

Series Drivetrains

In a series hybrid electric vehicle, an electric motor is the only means of driving the wheels . The motor obtains electricity either from a battery pack or from a generator powered by an engine in much the same way as a portable generator. A controller determines how power is shared between the battery and the engine/generator set.

• Split Parallel Hybrid

Series/Parallel Drivetrains. The Toyota Prius made popular a new concept that combines many of the advantages of the parallel drive train with the series drive train’s ability to maintain engine operation near its most efficient operating point Variations on this design have shown up in the Nissan Tino Hybrid, which was sold for a short period in Japan, and is being incorporated into a hybrid vehicle developed by Paice Corporation