In a modern motoring world that looks to be constantly making the shift towards safer and greener electric and hybrid technology, you may well find yourself asking: what is a hybrid car?
Or, if you know the answer to that, then maybe you want to know: how does a hybrid car work?
After all, fully electric cars are a little easier to grasp in sheer concept (they're, well, fully electric . . .), but hybrids occupy a sort of grey area in the mind between fully battery-powered electric vehicles and your standard-powered petrol and diesel vehicles.
We're here to help clear up the confusion!
What is a Hybrid Car?
Unlike fully electric cars and vans, a hybrid car or van runs on a conventional petrol or diesel engine as well as an electric motor and battery pack. They're a halfway house between fully electric vehicles and the more conventional, standard-powered cars fuelled by petrol and diesel engines, the idea being that you can get the best of both worlds with a hybrid.
How do Hybrid Cars Work?
Hybrid cars run on both electricity and a petrol or diesel engine. They're powered by a small electric battery which can selectively power the engine, along with a normal-sized fuel tank. This fuel tank provides the internal combustion engine (ICE) with either petrol or fuel, just like with a standard car. However, as the electric battery is small, a hybrid car can only run on electrical power for a couple of miles at low speeds. Once the electric power runs out when driving, the hybrid car will then switch over to the ICE engine. The basic idea is that you switch to the ICE power source after the electric battery has run out.
It's worth noting that not every hybrid car is the exact same. Some models make use of a gasoline motor to generate electricity and recharge the battery for their batteries, whilst plug-in hybrid cars are powered when you plug into main electrical sources, such as on walls or at charging stations. Other hybrid cars are also different in that their battery is charged only by capture of excess power which is then converted into electricity. The excessive energy that is normally wasted during a vehicle's idling time is then deposited into the battery for further use, like with regenerative braking. Regenerative braking occurs when you slow down and the kinetic energy that's generated is then converted into battery power instead of being lost in the brakes.
If you're driving a pure hybrid and not a plug-in hybrid, you won’t be able to plug the battery in and charge it yourself through an external electrical supply. Instead, the battery recharges itself through a regenerative braking system and also through the ICE engine.
Depending on your needs, hybrid cars can be especially suited to city driving when driving for short distances at low speeds, with improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, whilst also having the back-up of a diesel or a petrol engine if you want to head out of town and travel for much longer distances.
Pros And Cons Of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Well, now you know a little bit about them, but you might still be unsure as to whether a hybrid electric vehicle is the right match for you. To remedy that, here we're laying out the pros and cons of hybrid cars to help you arrive at a final decision.
Pros of Hybrid Vehicles
No ‘range anxiety’
Ah, what would an electric or part-electric vehicle be without a bit of good old range anxiety? Many users worry about making the move to an electric car and not having enough charge to make it to a specific place or location before running out of battery, especially as some areas across the UK are still suffering from an acute lack of charging stations.
However, with a hybrid vehicle, this is less of a worry as you can simply fill up your tank at a petrol station and there's no need for plug-in charging.
Ideal for city driving
If you’re mostly using a hybrid car for city driving, then you're likely going to experience much better fuel economy as a result - perfect if you want to save fuel. With stop-start city driving, your electric battery is going to last longer as it recharges every time you push down on the brake pedal - in other words, most of the time! That's going to save you money on fuel costs and it also means less tedious trips to the gas station to constantly fill your tank up.
More eco-friendly
Okay, so hybrid cars are never going to be as eco-friendly as a pure electric vehicle, but they will still run much cleaner than a conventionally-powered petrol or diesel vehicle. As you’re using less oil and gas when city-driving via the hybrid's electric power, you will be reducing your fossil fuel emissions as a result, which is of course a welcome contribution towards reducing the planet's harmful CO2 emissions!
Cons of Hybrid Vehicles
Not economical for long-distance driving
As the gasoline engine on a hybrid is a lot smaller than that of conventional cars and vans, a hybrid car is most efficient when travelling for short distances at low speeds, such as in towns or cities. Because of that, you'll find that a hybrid isn't the best choice when you want to drive at high speeds for longer periods of time and at greater distances. You may also find that a hybrid isn’t as powerful and simply ends up using more gasoline power.
Still responsible for some fossil fuel emissions
As we talked about before, whilst a hybrid isn't as harmful to the environment as the expenditure of a diesel or petrol engine, hybrid cars are still responsible for emitting harmful CO2 when the electric battery runs out and the vehicle has to switch to the alternative source of fuel.
Higher upfront costs
Like any electric or partially-electric vehicle, a hybrid car typically tends to be more expensive for you to buy or lease than it’s petrol or diesel alternatives. On the flipside of that, hybrids and electrics don't constantly burn through fuel so quickly, so you can look to make up for initial high upfront cost in continuous fuel savings.
Leasing With LeaseLoco
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If you are looking for some more information about electric car leasing then we have a handy EV & hybrid guide page and more helpful leasing guides for you to read through at your pleasure!
FAQs
What is the meaning of HEV?
HEV is simply the abbreviation for 'hybrid electric vehicle', which is one of the 3 main types of electric vehicle that uses an electric battery or an electric motor, possibly alongside a petrol or a diesel engine.
What's the Difference Between Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids?
Obviously, the first key difference is that you can't charge the battery of a pure hybrid with a plug-in electric socket. A pure hybrid also has a significantly smaller battery and electric motor than a plug-in hybrid vehicle, so this means that while a plug-in can travel up to 40 mile on electric power, a pure hybrid can only last a couple of miles at low speeds before it has to switch to the alternative source of fuel from the internal combustion engine.
What's the Difference Between Hybrids and Battery Electric Vehicles?
The biggest difference between hybrid cars and pure battery electric cars is that a fully electric car only has an electric motor and battery, whereas hybrids also have a gasoline engine as well. The battery pack will be significantly bigger than that of a HEV (and a PHEV too) giving a much further range. Hybrid cars and plug in hybrid cars will run on it’s ICE engine one it’s electric power has ran out, so it will still produce fossil fuel emissions and is not as eco-friendly as a fully electric vehicle.