Despite the influx of TV commercials and advertisements on hybrid cars, there is still much mystery about them. Many still do not fully understand what hybrid cars are, except that you know they are more fuel efficient, some use electric energy, some even use no gasoline as fuel, and they all emit much less toxic fumes into the ozone. And they are fondly known as green cars which look futuristic, with aerodynamic designs to boot. And that many of the top car manufacturers of the world produce them. There are brands that top the charts like Toyota Prius, and Honda Insight, and the latest kid on the block is the Chevy Tahoe SUV.



Thankfully, there are a few types of hybrid cars, so you are indeed spoilt for choices. Japanese, American and European Hybrid cars flood the market. But more importantly, you need to understand at least from a functional perspective how these few types of hybrid cars work. Essentially, a Hybrid Car is one which uses two or more forms of power sources to drive the engine.

The Full hybrid is one which can propel forward regardless of whether the hybrid car is at low speed or high speed. Essentially a full hybrid car, is capable of driving using only the electric motor as power source.

The Plug-in Hybrid Car has certain similar characteristics of hybrid cars. They are also are very similar to electric vehicles. In essence they are a cross between both. Plug-in hybrid cars must be recharged externally by connecting a plug to a power source. The combustion engine in plug-in hybrid vehicles is used only as a back up. The Plug-in hybrids can run solely on batteries if you so choose to. The only inconvenience is that the Plug-in hybrid needs to be plugged in daily for recharging.

The Series Hybrid Car has a generator turned on by a fuel engine which either work as a battery charger for the motor or charge batteries. In turn, these batteries work to give energy to the electric motor that propels the transmission, meaning that the series hybrid car most often do not need to use the fuel engine to get power.

The Parallel Hybrid Car does use gasoline fuel at times. The fuel tank gives gasoline to the engine and electric batteries give power to a motor. In parallel, as the name implies, the two motors gives energy to propel the car forward.

Most Hybrid Cars nowadays are parallel hybrid cars. Let us take for example the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight the Lexus GS450, Ford Escape are all fueled hybrids, meaning that they do consume fuel, albeit a fraction of the amount compared to conventional cars.

With such a wide range of hybrid cars available in the market, they hybrid car is indeed a trend here to stay. What you choose should match you driving habits, your lifestyle needs and most importantly, your budget. What with US President Elect driving a hybrid car and endorsing environmentally friendly hybrid cars too.

Stay tuned for more good reads on Hybrid cars and Environmentally Friendly Cars at my site.