The Many Benefits of Hybrid Cars Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

The Many Advantages of Hybrid Cars Picture yourself driving on the freeway. You are cruising along at about sixty-five miles per hour in your late model SUV. This is a typical morning for you until an electronic beep from within your dash catches your attention. When you look at your gauges, you see the low fuel light shining bright and orange. As you think to yourself, "I just filled this thing up a week ago," you glance up to see salvation in the form of a road sign: "Gas, next exit." "Thank you," you say, looking up. When you turn, however, you realize a new problem. The premium grade fuel with which you usually fill your tank is almost $2.00 per gallon. That means it would cost you $40.00 just to get through another week of commuting. We have all been in this, or a similar situation, especially with gas prices where they are and where they are expected to reach. There is now an answer to this problem of bad gas mileage, and also to the disgusting amount of toxins new cars are still pouring into the atmosphere. This answer is hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are an up-and-coming form of vehicle that mixes gasoline and electric motors to produce a high gas mileage/low emission vehicle. There are different ways in which the two types of power sources found on hybrid vehicles. There is one, called a parallel hybrid, that has a fuel tank to supply the gasoline engine, and a set of batteries to supply the power to the electric motor. The electric motor and gasoline engine both turn the transmission at the same time. The transmission, in turn, moves the wheels (Nice). Another type, the series hybrid, uses the gasoline engine to turn an electric generator. The generator then either powers the electric motor, which turns the t... ... at about sixty-five miles per hour. The large SUV in the next lane turns off towards a gas station. You look down at your gauge, thinking to yourself, "I probably filled up before him, and I still have a half of a tank. Now I remember why I bought this thing." Works Cited Hybrid Electric Vehicle Program. DOE. March 26, 2004. http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/ "Hyper-Mileage Hybrids: 2002 Toyota Prius vs. 2003 Honda Civic: Science fair exhibits or real cars?" Motor Trend. August 2002: Pages 69-74 Mileage. HybridCars.com. March 25, 2004. http://www.hyridcars.com/mileage.html Nice, Karim. How Hybrid Cars Work. Howstuffworks. March 25, 2004. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm Oil Dependency. HybridCars.com. March 25, 2004. http://www.hybridcars.com/oil.html The Cars. Hybridcars.com. March 25, 2004. http://www.hybridcar.com/cars.html