- The term "hybrid vehicle" generally means any vehicle that uses two or more different kinds of power sources. This could include gasoline plus manpower, as with a moped. However, when most people refer to a "hybrid car," they mean a car that uses both electricity from a battery and a traditional gasoline engine. Hybrid vehicles can range from the compact Toyota Prius to an SUV, such as the Ford Escape Hybrid. Other hybrid models include the Honda Civic, Accord and Insight Hybrids, the Lexus GS 450h, the Nissan Altima Hybrid, Saturn Aura and Vue Hybrids, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Mercury Milan and Mariner Hybrids, and the Cadillac Escalade.
- An electric hybrid car has both a gas tank and an electric battery. While braking wastes energy in traditional gasoline-powered cars, hybrid cars use "regenerative braking" to recharge the vehicle's battery. Some hybrid cars have a fuel tank that sends gas to the engine and a battery that powers an electric motor. Both the engine and the motor power the transmission, which then turns the wheels. In other hybrid vehicles, gas never directly powers the vehicle. Instead, gasoline runs a generator that powers an electric motor, and the electric motor powers the vehicle.
- The benefits of hybrid cars include reduced pollution and energy savings. Less gasoline is needed to power a hybrid car, and so expenditures on fuel are reduced. Hybrid cars also tend to be less noisy than conventional gasoline-powered cars.
- Hybrid vehicles are often more expensive initially than conventional gasoline-powered cars. Theoretically, the cost should be recouped over time by the savings on gasoline. However, some studies have shown that that calculation may be complicated by the fact that hybrid cars may need extra batteries and may cost more to be repaired because fewer auto technicians know how to work on them. A "Consumer Reports" article in 2006 asserted that the extra initial cost for a hybrid car would not be recouped within five years, but studies on a variety of models since then have indicated that hybrids do save money for the typical owner in the long run.
- The idea of using both gasoline and electricity to power a vehicle dates back to the Mixte made by Porsche in 1901. Scientist Victor Wouk worked extensively on hybrid technology in the 1960s and 1970s. The regenerative braking system idea was pioneered by engineer David Arthurs in 1978. Several more variations on the hybrid vehicle were developed in the 1980s and 1990s, but none of them were mass-produced or mass-marketed. The Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius were the first successfully mass-produced hybrid vehicles.
