Power Products. Subscribe here. Hybrid cars have been on our roads since the late s, yet they remain something of a mystery to many drivers. As the hybrid car becomes more common, interest is undoubtedly growing. One of the most common questions on the minds of today's drivers is how a hybrid car works.
From the workings of the hybrid engine to the process of charging a hybrid car, we aim to clear any doubts you might have about the hybrid car. So how does a hybrid car work? Power comes from conventional engine and battery. Advantages of a hybrid car. The hybrid, the electric car and the plug-in hybrid. The key difference is that, unlike the electric car, the hybrid car and plug-in hybrid have an electric engine as well as a fuel-powered engine.
So while an electric car has to be plugged in to be charged, the hybrid car and plug-in hybrid are not required to do so since they can always switch to the conventional fuel motor. The difference between the hybrid and plug-in hybrid is that the plug-in hybrid has a built-in charge point so it can be charged at home or a public charging point.
The battery of a hybrid car. The key difference between a hybrid car and a petrol or diesel car is that the hybrid has two engines, one of which is conventional and the other electric. Charging a hybrid car. A hybrid car charges its own electric battery while on the move, recycling energy as the driver applies the brakes.
So decreasing the fuel consumption of the car is one of the surest ways to decrease emissions. Carbon dioxide CO2 is another type of pollution a car produces.
The U. Since it is not regulated, a car has no devices for removing CO2 from the exhaust. A car that burns twice as much gas adds twice as much CO2 to the atmosphere. Auto makers in the United States have another strong incentive to improve mileage. The current standards require that the average mileage of all the new cars sold by an auto maker should be This means that if an auto maker sells one hybrid car that gets 60 mpg 3.
You can actually take steps to drive your car in ways that increase its gas mileage. In the next section, we'll look at some tips for increasing the efficiency of your hybrid or just gas-powered car. A driver's desire for quick acceleration causes our cars to be much less efficient than they could be. You may have noticed that a car with a less powerful engine gets better gas mileage than an identical car with a more powerful engine.
Just look at the window stickers on new cars at a dealership for a city and highway mpg comparison. The amazing thing is that most of what we require a car to do uses only a small percentage of its horsepower. When you are driving along the freeway at 60 mph You can get the best mileage from a hybrid car by using the same kind of driving habits that give you better mileage in your gasoline-engine car:. For more on hybrid cars and hybrid SUVs, more on fuel-efficient vehicles, and more great car information, check out:.
Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Car Models.
Hybrid Cars. How Hybrid Cars Work. See more hybrid car pictures. Contents Gasoline Power vs. Gasoline Power vs. Electric Power The gasoline-electric hybrid car is just what it sounds like -- a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car.
Gasoline-powered car Move your mouse over the parts for a 3-D view. Electric car Move your mouse over the parts for a 3-D view. The car should be able to: Drive at least miles km before re-fueling Be refueled quickly and easily Keep up with the other traffic on the road A gasoline car meets these requirements but produces a relatively large amount of pollution and generally gets poor gas mileage.
Gasoline-electric Hybrid Structure Gasoline-electric hybrid cars contain the following parts: Gasoline engine - The hybrid car has a gasoline engine much like the one you will find on most cars. However, the engine on a hybrid is smaller and uses advanced technologies to reduce emissions and increase efficiency.
Fuel tank - The fuel tank in a hybrid is the energy storage device for the gasoline engine. Gasoline has a much higher energy density than batteries do. For example, it takes about 1, pounds of batteries to store as much energy as 1 gallon 7 pounds of gasoline. Electric motor - The electric motor on a hybrid car is very sophisticated.
Advanced electronics allow it to act as a motor as well as a generator. For example, when it needs to, it can draw energy from the batteries to accelerate the car. But acting as a generator, it can slow the car down and return energy to the batteries. Generator - The generator is similar to an electric motor, but it acts only to produce electrical power.
It is used mostly on series hybrids see below. Batteries - The batteries in a hybrid car are the energy storage device for the electric motor. Unlike the gasoline in the fuel tank, which can only power the gasoline engine, the electric motor on a hybrid car can put energy into the batteries as well as draw energy from them.
Transmission - The transmission on a hybrid car performs the same basic function as the transmission on a conventional car. Some hybrids, like the Honda Insight, have conventional transmissions. Others, like the Toyota Prius, have radically different ones, which we'll talk about later.
Hybrid-car Performance The key to a hybrid car is that the gasoline engine can be much smaller than the one in a conventional car and therefore more efficient. There are several reasons why smaller engines are more efficient than bigger ones: The big engine is heavier than the small engine, so the car uses extra energy every time it accelerates or drives up a hill. The pistons and other internal components are heavier, requiring more energy each time they go up and down in the cylinder.
The displacement of the cylinders is larger, so more fuel is required by each cylinder. Bigger engines usually have more cylinders, and each cylinder uses fuel every time the engine fires, even if the car isn't moving. Improving Fuel Economy Besides a smaller, more efficient engine, today's hybrids use many other tricks to increase fuel efficiency. To squeeze every last mile out of a gallon of gasoline, a hybrid car can: Recover energy and store it in the battery - Whenever you step on the brake pedal in your car, you are removing energy from the car.
The faster a car is going, the more kinetic energy it has. The brakes of a car remove this energy and dissipate it in the form of heat. A hybrid car can capture some of this energy and store it in the battery to use later.
It does this by using "regenerative braking. In this mode, the electric motor acts as a generator and charges the batteries while the car is slowing down. Sometimes shut off the engine - A hybrid car does not need to rely on the gasoline engine all of the time because it has an alternate power source -- the electric motor and batteries. So the hybrid car can sometimes turn off the gasoline engine, for example when the vehicle is stopped at a red light.
The frontal area profile of a small and large car Use advanced aerodynamics to reduce drag - When you are driving on the freeway, most of the work your engine does goes into pushing the car through the air.
This force is known as aerodynamic drag. This drag force can be reduced in a variety of ways. One sure way is to reduce the frontal area of the car. Think of how a big SUV has to push a much greater area through the air than a tiny sports car.
Use low-rolling resistance tires - The tires on most cars are optimized to give a smooth ride, minimize noise, and provide good traction in a variety of weather conditions. But they are rarely optimized for efficiency. In fact, the tires cause a surprising amount of drag while you are driving. Hybrid cars use special tires that are both stiffer and inflated to a higher pressure than conventional tires.
The result is that they cause about half the drag of regular tires. Use lightweight materials - Reducing the overall weight of a car is one easy way to increase the mileage. A lighter vehicle uses less energy each time you accelerate or drive up a hill. Composite materials like carbon fiber or lightweight metals like aluminum and magnesium can be used to reduce weight. The Honda Insight left and Toyota Prius Although both of these cars are modified parallel hybrids, they are actually quite different in character.
The Honda Insight The Honda Insight , which was introduced in early in the United States, is designed to get the best possible mileage. Layout of the Honda Insight Move your mouse over the parts for a 3-D view. The electric motor on the Insight helps in several ways.
It can: Assist the gasoline engine, providing extra power while the car is accelerating or climbing a hill Provide some regenerative braking to capture energy during braking Start the engine , eliminating the need for a starter However, the motor cannot power the car by itself; the gas engine must be running for the car to move.
But the Insight relies mainly on three areas: It reduces the weight - Already a small car, the Insight uses a lightweight aluminum body and structure to further reduce weight. By making the car lightweight, Honda is able to use a smaller, lighter engine that can still maintain the performance level we have come to expect from our cars.
The Insight weighs less than 1, pounds kg , which is pounds kg less than the lightest Honda Civic. It uses a small, efficient engine - The engine in the Insight, shown below, weighs only pounds 56 kg and is a tiny, 1. Also, with the additional power provided by the small electric motor, this system is able to accelerate the Insight from 0 to 60 mph in about 11 seconds.
It uses advanced aerodynamics - The Honda Insight is designed using the classical teardrop shape: The back of the car is narrower than the front. Note that real teardrops do not behave this way aerodynamically -- click here for an interesting article on the aerodynamics of falling water droplets.
The rear wheels are partially covered by bodywork to provide a smoother shape, and some parts of the underside of the car are enclosed with plastic panels. These tricks result in a drag coefficient of 0. A three-way catalyst is designed to reduce engine-out emissions within the exhaust system. Fuel filler: A nozzle from a fuel dispenser attaches to the receptacle on the vehicle to fill the tank.
Fuel tank gasoline : This tank stores gasoline on board the vehicle until it's needed by the engine. Power electronics controller: This unit manages the flow of electrical energy delivered by the traction battery, controlling the speed of the electric traction motor and the torque it produces.
Thermal system cooling : This system maintains a proper operating temperature range of the engine, electric motor, power electronics, and other components. Traction battery pack: Stores electricity for use by the electric traction motor.
0コメント