Hybrid Cars And Hybrid Trucks

The fuels that power most cars and trucks, and indeed motorcycles and aeroplanes, is one of the most unpredictable commodities on the market. Oil and petrol are not only getting more expensive, but the crises in the Middle East threaten to interrupt supplies as well.

This state of affairs is very disturbing for some people and governments alike. As the cost of oil rises, citizens complain and blame the government and the rising price of oil affects the price of living and the balance of payments.

On top of that, environmental groups are undivided in blaming the burning of fossil fuels, which includes oil, for most of the degradation of the environment and the consequent vanishing of species. A possible answer to all these problems is the development of a different kind of engine that does not burn so much oil. Enter the hybrid engine.

All the top car manufacturers are busy producing energy-efficient hybrid cars. Ford, Honda and Toyota are at the vanguard of making stylish cars that contain hybrid engines which run off petrol and electricity. In fact the car basically has two engines which share the machinery for delivering the power to the wheels.

These cars use petrol while the batteries require charging or when the car needs extra power, say for overtaking or going up hill, but they automatically switch the petrol engine off and the electric engine on when electricity can provide enough power to accomplish what you require the car to do, like cruising in city traffic or normal, unhurried driving. The batteries are charged by the petrol engine, by braking and by plugging it into the national grid.

Trucks naturally use a great deal more gasoline than cars and so the potential for saving is a great deal higher to. The problem is that the electric motors are not actually powerful enough to be able to entirely take over from a petrol engine if a great deal of power is required to drive a fully laden truck.

It can 'assist' - that is reduce the load on the petrol engine, thereby saving some of the costs, but can it save enough fuel to justify it's fairly high price? That is the big question for all truck owners. However, the technology is being improved quickly and it almost certainly will do one day.

Again the big three are doing everything they can to compete in this potentially highly lucrative market. If they could create hybrid engines that are powerful enough to pull a fully loaded truck at a good speed, manufacturers are convinced that truck owners will go for them in order to save on their costly fuel bills.

This along with decreasing the price of hybrid cars is the key to decreasing a country's dependence on imported oil. If you are not too worried about the high cost of buying a hybrid car, then you should get one merely to do your bit for the environment, but if you want to purchase one to save on your fuel bills, you will have to get the calculator out and do your arithmetic carefully.