- A relatively new concept for increasing the fuel efficiency of cars has been dubbed the "mild hybrid," although they are strictly speaking not hybrids at all. These cars come with an over-sized starter. The car automatically switches the engine off when idling, coasting, or braking, and then uses its over-sized starter to quickly and quietly restart the engine when it is needed. In the US, the Saturn Vue and Aurora Greenlines use this technology.
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A hybrid has two cooperative drive systems. All hybrid electric cars have an internal combustion engine, just as a conventional car does, and they also have a large battery pack and electric motor. Past these basic characteristics, there are three different versions of hybrid technology, and in each the electric and gasoline systems cooperate differently.
Another common working characteristic of hybrid cars is that they all have regenerative braking. This is a mechanism that converts part of the energy from slowing and stopping the vehicle into electricity, which is sent to the battery. - Also known as a parallel hybrid, these use the electric motor when idling and for speeds of up to about 20 or 25 mph. At that point, the gasoline engine will automatically start and combine with the electric motor to provide power. The gasoline engine is also the main source of power for charging the battery. This sort of hybrid therefore uses its battery power for at stops and for neighborhood driving, and the gasoline engine is used only for higher speed driving. Toyota developed this technology, and all Toyota hybrids use it. The same technology has also been licensed out to Nissan and Ford, among others.
- These version of hybrid relies on a low power gasoline engine, maximizing fuel efficiency. For the extra power needed for jobs like passing or climbing hills, the car uses the electric motor to support the gasoline engine. Therefore, it relies on the gasoline engine while idling and for neighborhood driving, and is the opposite of the parallel hybrid. However, the gasoline engine is still the main source of power for charging the battery. Honda was the first car company to develop and market these types of hybrids.
- The two major types of hybrids are still primarily reliant on their gasoline engines to charge their batteries, and at least half reliant on it for driving. The plug-in electric hybrid is an effort to get around both the reliance on the gasoline engine, and also the limits of the all-electric car at the same time. These cars rely entirely on the battery for power during driving, just as in an all-electric car. The gasoline engine is a back-up. When the battery is exhausted, the gasoline engine on board can then be started and used to either recharge the battery or drive the car to a recharging station.
