Review Hybrid Cars

ummm i know that ther are hybrid cars but what do they do 4 the environment? and how dot hey work give me anything u got answers or web sites

thanks!

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm

Hyrbrids get good gas mileage because they store the normally wasted energy of braking and other stuff into a battery rather then letting it go away. And note that the manual version of the Honda Insight and the Toyata Prius almost get 10 mpg better than their automatic counterpart.(transmission)

No they should not. Fire trucks and ambulances run on diesel because it is optimal for the truck idling for several hours at the scene of a fire and for hauling all the weight of a fire vehicle or ambulance. Police cars are high performance vehicles designed to pursue and overtake almost any other vehicle on the road. Hybrid and alternative fuels are not good for high performance vehicles. All these vehicles are high performance and are designed specifically to carry out a specific task. Switching to hybrid technology and alternative fuels could cause problems with vehicle performance. Why fix it if its not broken?

I can't speak for fire trucks and police cars, but I know that ambulances are heavy vehicles that are expected to be able to be on the road 24 hours a day. A hybrid engine can't support such a heavy vehicle, and gas mileage is the least of our worries as tax payers pay for our fuel. The number of people who have trust in hybrid technology and alternate fuels is small. That is because no car has been made with hybrid technology that is worth buying. When they make a heavy high preformance vehicle using hybrid technology then it may be considered.

I've been thinking of buying a hybrid car, but now I'm hearing about E85 as a fuel source.

Which technology has more staying power, is better for the environment, etc. . .? Tell me what you know!

If you can provide me with any links to E85 info, that'd be great.

Thank you.

I had a Caravan once that was a FFV. I put in E85 for a while, my 25 MPG dropped to almost 16 MPG. Sorry but seeing I lost 1/3 of my mileage with E85 I will never go back.

Since hybrids have only been on sale in the consumer market for about five years, it's still a bit early to assess all the real costs of owning one of these vehicles. On the surface, it appears that the added costs are recouped with benefits such as the federal tax credit and the improvement in fuel economy. Maintenance and repairs seem to be average or slightly below average so far, and issues with repairs of hybrid-specific components are nearly nonexistent. Whether the benefits outweigh the costs in the long term will really remain dependent on external factors, such as if the clean fuel federal tax deduction is phased out as planned, and personal factors, such as the owner's typical commute and if he or she can get the optimum fuel economy benefits.

For the hybrid owners we spoke with, any additional costs, perceived or real, were outweighed by the love of their cars.

The time will come when this cars need to be serviced and/or taken out of the road and recycled

that technology changes so fast that I dont believe you could teach anything that would be up to date. the shops use computer links to help in the new data and repairs. so if the mechanic is good but never worked on a hybrid he can still recieve the information he need to do a good repair.

How does the prius or other hybrids work and recharge by braking?

Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) is the brand name from Toyota/Lexus on their newer hybrid models beginning with the 2004 model year. Essentially, they rebranded their Toyota Hybrid System II (THS-II) with the HSD label. So, 2003 and older Toyota Prius have the THS hybrid system (licensed to Ford/Mercury/Mazda and Nissan), but do not use the HSD hybrid system.

Other manufacturers have their own hybrid systems that operate differently. The GMC/Chevrolet/Saturn BAS system is far different than the Honda IMA system, which in turn is different than the Toyota systems…

How a hybrid car works depends on the technology that a manufacturer decided to use to make it a hybrid. Not all hybrids are created equal.

As the lowest common denominator, hybrids usually have a larger electric motor (for starting the gasoline engine or for charging the hybrid battery), larger/additional hybrid battery pack to drive the electric motor, auto-stop (gasoline engine turns off at idle), regenerative braking (coasting or light braking will cause the motor to act as a generator, capturing some of that lost kinetic energy of wheel motion and storing it as electricity in the hybrid battery), improved fuel economy, and lower emissions.

More improved hybrid systems allow for tuning for higher performance (more power or acceleration), or for more fuel efficiency (usually through using a smaller engine, where the electric motors help out). On the more improved hybrid systems, you could see:
- ability to act as a standing generator to power equipment off-site
- additional peak power, by the electric motor assisting the gasoline engine as required (for acceleration or hill climbing, for example), similar to a turbo
- electric-only propulsion (short periods of the electric motors/hybrid battery alone powering the car, for low power requirements (such as coasting, driving on the level, low speeds)
- reduction in weight and ability to move accessories from belt-driven to electrically-driven (smaller wires needed)

The Ford/Mercury hybrid system and the Nissan hybrid system is fairly similar to the older Toyota THS system (seen on the 2001-2003 Prius). Toyota/Lexus hybrids are currently using the THS-II or HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive) system. Honda is using their IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system. GM's newer hybrids are using their BAS (belt-alternator system) or two-mode system, while their older "hybrid" pickups are pretty much the lowest common denominator listed above.

For general overviews:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question262.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm
http://www.hybridcenter.org/hybrid-technology-center-home.html

But since you asked specifically about the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive technology:
http://www.hybridsynergydrive.com/en/quick_guide.html
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/hsd/index.html
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/ths2/index.html

perating an automobile? We have biodiesel, ethanol, gasoline, methanol, propane, natural gas?

On the surface, it would seem that a car that runs on batteries would be the cleanest. When you are driving it, it emits almost no pollutants. However, the plants that build the batteries are significant polluters, and the amount of lead or other heavy metals in the batteries cause real environmental problems when it's time to get rid of them. Not to mention, coal burning plants that produce the electricity needed to charge your batteries put out far more pollutuion than all the cars burning gasoline. All taken into consideration, Battery powered cars still pollute, even if indirectly. Right now there are no easy answers. Given the current info, I'd lean toward bio-diesel. I know a guy who runs his old VW rabbit on used french fry grease from McDonalds. (The emissions are very low and you get very hungry when you follow too close behind him. It smells like french fries.) However, that could all change by tomorrow. Technology grows faster than we can keep pace with.

Innovative - yes. Environmentally friendly? Not necessarily. The destruction to the habitat surrounding the mines that provide the nickel for the batteries is unbelievable. The area around the nickel mines in Canada is virtually un-inhabitable.

Not to mention, the nickel is mined in Canada, sent to the US for refining, shipped to China for manufacturing and then shipped to Japan for installation into the cars, which are then finally shipped to the US for sale.

Hybrid technology is definitely innovative, but not as green as you might think.

I'd like to know more about these subjects.
I'd like to learn more about these topics. Any suggestions for web pages?

Your question is one that I asked about 11 years ago when Ford started making Flex-Fuel Vehicles
I've been researching for years
The best resource for beginners…. is the N.E.V.C
www.E85fuel.com

That website will keep you busy for days
Be sure to sign up for newsletters there also. you can go back to previous newsletters too. [ I was featured in May of 2005.]

For currant news & info I also get GOOGLE & YAHOO! alerts delivered to me daily via e-mail — keyword = "ethanol"

My nickname here is ETHOL a.k.a….eth'ol my own contraction for ethanol…….and given to me by my co-workers.

Yes I am an ethanol info idiot…..or advocate..
There some restricted areas of the N.E.V.C. website, but anybody who wants to get unbiased and truthful info will find it there.

Be mindful of the info you get from other 'Media' Remember everyone has an opinion & an agenda . The ethanol industry is subject to attack by other energy industries ….competition always does that. Studies and polls can always be skewed to reach different conclusions…..Be your own judge of conclusions.

As for Hybrid technology…I drive Ford …so I can direct you to
www.ford.com you can also get competitive comparisons there

There are different types of Hybrid engines
Ford's Hybrid Escape is what is called Fully Hybrid
You get better mileage at lower speeds & stop-n-go type traffic
because then it automatically shuts off the Gas
I can go a month on 10 gallons of gas because of the kind of driving I do………{ sweet huh? }
Currently Ford has a Hybrid that can use E85 as well but its not on the market yet When it is I will be the first one in line for it!!!!

Maybe I'll meet you in line ?

Hybrid cars are better on gas. Just keep the body styles that we like but outfit the cars with hybrid engines. Continuing to make normal, poor mileage cars is like continuing to make VHS movies in the age of DVD players.

They still do make VHS.

Until hybrid's cost comes down, there will still be regular engines. New information I have seen coming out is suggesting the hybrid advantage is a lot less than advertised.

I'm not convinced the current technology is worth it in the long haul. I'm guessing it'll be another 10 to 15 years before something worthwhile comes out.

F1 would be an excellent training ground for new tech. It cannot be that we are using internal combustion engines for more than a century. Also, why does F1 not use regenerative braking.

There was actually some suggestion about this but it would take years to realise. The idea came up after someone noted that F1 burns lots of fuel and is therefore polluting the environment. A lot of people are not really supportive of this idea.

However, Honda may be taking the first step towards green tech with their Green Earth thing. They could be the team paving way for this and we'll see if it works out