Introduction to Hybrid Vehicle

Any vehicle can be termed a hybrid if it combines two or more sources of power. In fact, you may well have owned a hybrid vehicle at some point. For example, a moped (a motorized pedal bike) is a type of hybrid because it combines the power of a gasoline engine with the pedal power of its rider.

You actually see hybrid vehicles everyday and don’t even know it! Most of the trains we see pulling freight are diesel-electric hybrids. They use their electrical motors to move when there aren’t heavy grades or heavy loads and then switch over to diesel when the going gets tough.

Many cities have been using diesel-electric buses…these hybrids draw electrical power from cables that are either overhead or embedded in the ground and run on diesel when they are away from the wires. The famous San Francisco trolley is an example of this type of hybrid. As a matter of fact, many subway cars have both an electrical motor, powered by the “third rail” and a diesel motor for power outages. Those giant mining trucks you often see on TV or at mining sites are often diesel-electric hybrids. Just imagine the amount of gas it takes to haul 40 tons of rock! These trucks use the electrical power to move around when they aren’t loaded down. Submarines are also hybrid vehicles -- some are nuclear-electric and some are diesel-electric. You can even call a sailboat a hybrid vehicle since they have a diesel (or gasoline) motor onboard to power them when there isn’t any wind!

Any vehicle that combines two or more sources of power that can directly or indirectly provide propulsion is a hybrid. The gasoline-electric hybrid car is just that -- a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car. Right now, the gas-electric car is available to consumers, but research is proceeding very quickly into the effective use of solar power, backed up by gasoline power, to power vehicles. So, hybrid vehicles have been around quite a while…they just weren’t called hybrids! You can see the reasons for their development…for the most part, they were developed by companies to save themselves money on
diesel fuel and gasoline. The current, and re-current, fluctuations in consumer gas prices have brought the technology into our lives full force.