When you think hybrid, you think of Toyota’s iconic vehicle the Prius at the dealer of cars for sale in Orange County, Toyota of Orange. However, ever since the Prius debuted, Toyota has many of its other models such as the C-HR, Corolla, Camry, and RAV4. So, today the choice is there in terms of different types of car models you can select from.
Although there is so much variety in the hybrid market, do you actually know what a hybrid car is, what it does, and how it can benefit you in the long run? If not, you don’t have to worry because the good people at Toyota of Orange are going to give us an uncomplicated explanation of what a hybrid is.
How Does A Hybrid Car Work?
When you drive a conventional vehicle it gets its power from a diesel or petrol engine, which has to be on all the time unless the car is staying still and not going anywhere. As the sales reps of cars for sale in Orange County point out that it takes energy to accelerate, slowing down also involves wasting a lot of effort. If the energy came from the burning of petrol or diesel, you have used some up and created pollution in the meantime.
Again, the sales reps of cars for sale say that a hybrid doesn’t just have a conventional engine. For instance, in a Prius, Toyota’s most popular hybrid, there is also an electric motor and a set of large batteries that store lots of electricity.
Just because the car works on electricity, doesn’t mean you have to plug a hybrid to charge it since every time you use the brakes, the car is using ‘regenerative braking’ to turn the car’s energy back into electricity, which is saved in the batteries.
Converting energy that is usually wasted under normal braking is just the tipping point. If the batteries require more of a top-up, spare engine power is transmitted to a generator that helps to make sure they always have lots of charge in them.
All of this electricity helps a full hybrid vehicle to save fuel in two methods. First of all, the hybrid’s electric motor can work alongside the petrol engine to offer extra acceleration. With this further push available, the car can have a smaller, more economical engine, however, the engine and motor can work together to offer the performance of a larger engine when it is required.
Some Toyota hybrids are equipped with Hybrid Synergy Drive that has a second mode that you won’t get in a mild hybrid. When driving at lower speeds, or stuck in traffic, its gasoline engine can be shut off altogether while the electric motor, which is as powerful as a 1.2-liter engine, does all the work.
Since it is using electricity that was recovered from braking or stored when the car was cruising efficiently, it helps the hybrid vehicle use a lot less fuel than a normal car and less than a similar mild hybrid.
When you closer analyze all the moving parts and think about how everything is so cleverly connected, you appreciate the fact that when you are driving a hybrid you don’t have to worry about all the mechanisms that are happening. And that is really what makes this type of car so special. You could be going around your local town, cruising on the highway, or towing your RV, a hybrid vehicle guarantees you are using as little fuel as possible, which just leaves you to enjoy your fuel-efficient ride.
What’s The Future Of Hybrid Cars?
As mentioned above, a hybrid vehicle runs on a gasoline engine, its electric motor, or both simultaneously. However, does Hybrid Synergy Drive compare to other key saving technologies?
The Hybrid Synergy Drive automatically switches between electric power and normal engine power. Hybrid Synergy Drive adapts to the driver’s conditions since it controls the power coming from both sources and lets the vehicle know how to combine them. As a result, you get excellent efficiency and performance on every drive.
When the driver is in slower conditions such as traffic, the engine charges the battery with the generator. The generator emits the gasoline engine and lets the electric motor take control to provide a zero-emissions drive. This system knows when the vehicle has stopped and will turn the engine off to save power and reduce emissions, then automatically start up again when you step on the accelerator.
Many carmakers are trying to make their vehicles more fuel-efficient. Fortunately, Toyota is leading the fuel-efficiency race with its innovations such as its Toyota Optimal Drive technology.
Here are ways that car manufacturers are trying to meet Clean Green Cars targets:
Stop & Start
Some car companies are introducing stop/start systems that switch off the car’s engine when it comes to a standstill such as being stuck at traffic lights are just traffic. The car automatically restarts when the driver is ready/can move off again. Toyota has named this feature Stop & Stop and it has been proven to improve the combined cycle fuel economy by 18%.
Micro Hybrid
A couple of car manufacturers use the term micro-hybrid to describe the same Stop & Start systems. However, it only has acceleration only from a micro hybrid’s engine, instead of the engine and an electric motor, so technically speaking these cars aren’t hybrids at all. Also, when automatically stopping their engine when stationary, micro-hybrids use regenerative braking to store energy in a high-capacity battery as they slow down.
Mild Hybrid
A mild hybrid, which is sometimes referred to as a power-assist hybrid, is more refined than a micro-hybrid. There usually is a larger battery that can store a lot more charge from the regenerative braking, and an electric motor that can use it to help the car’s engine when it is required. Mild hybrids save fuel since the energy that would usually be lost due to braking is reused to help acceleration; however, they aren’t as sophisticated as a full hybrid vehicle and are usually less economical. Furthermore, a mild hybrid can’t operate on its electric motor alone for zero-emission low-speed motoring.