Gone With The Gas Guzzler- Hello Hybrid!

The concept behind the creation of hybrid vehicles is to get as much fuel efficiency out of a car made of lighter materials with a smaller engine as possible. No one wants a gas guzzler of a car eating up all of his or her hard earned cash and that's where the hybrid comes in. The hybrid vehicle answers the call for helping save dollars at the gas pumps.

It is estimated that depending on their model, hybrid cars can give drivers anywhere from 20, to 30 and in some cases even 60 miles per gallon more than the standard non-hybrid vehicle. Hybrid vehicles have as good a performance, if not better than traditional vehicles and the ride is smooth. Gas guzzler it is not. Many drivers are uttering the words, “Hello hybrid!� more and more these days.

Automakers chose to build a car that was considered very complex to both improve gas mileage and also to reduce emissions from the tailpipe. In the United States carmakers are mandated by law to meet what is known as “Corporate Average Fuel Economy� standards (or abbreviated to CAFÉ). The current standard dictates that all new vehicles sold to consumers must have an average mileage of 27.5mpg (or if you go by the metric system, 8.55 liters per 100 km). To put it another way, this means that if a car company is able to sell one hybrid car with an average mileage of 60 mpg (better than the average standard) or 3.92 liters per 100 km, then this is good news for them because they can then turn around and sell four, large and expensively priced luxury cars that get a great deal less out of the mileage (20 mpg or 11.76 liters per 100 km).

Let's take a closer look at how a hybrid most definitely does not fall into the category of being a gas guzzler. In order to get the best mileage possible, there are many tricks of the trade that automakers rely on. Three that we will focus on include the reduced weight of the hybrid, the small, efficient engine, and the advanced aerodynamics.

In the making of most hybrid cars, a lightweight aluminum body as well as structure is used to cut down tremendously on the weight of the car. Together the lightweight body and smaller, lighter engine allow for the excellent performance that is expected of all cars, hybrids or not. For example, the Honda Insight doesn't even begin to tip the car scales at less that 1,900 pounds (or 862 kg). This is only a fraction of what traditional gas guzzler types of cars weigh. Other materials often used to make hybrids include composite materials such as carbon fiber and other lightweight metals such as magnesium.

A small, efficient engine goes a long way in saving on mileage in hybrids. Big engines expend more energy when they accelerate and in particular when they accelerate up hills or inclines. As well big engines are equipped with more cylinders and require more work from the cylinders to allow them to do their job properly. All these things contribute to the need to buy fuel for your car more often. The hybrid vehicle's smaller, more fuel-efficient engine doesn't have this problem. To use the Honda Insight as an example once again, its engine weighs a mere 124 pounds (or 56 kg) and contains a very small 1.0 liter three-cylinder that makes it possible for the car to produce approximately 67 horsepower at 5,700 rpm. Plus the VTEC system and lean burn technology are incorporated into the car to make fuel efficiency even more of a reality in this hybrid.

The hybrid car is not a gas guzzler for a third reason- it uses advanced aerodynamics to help reduce drag. When you are driving along a busy freeway the majority of the work that your engine needs to do involves the force needed to push the vehicle down the highway (or through the air). This force is given the name “aerodynamic drag.� This aerodynamic drag can be reduced in two different ways- first by constructing smaller frontal areas on hybrid cars and secondly, by limiting and/or reducing disturbances around items that protrude from the car. For example, airflow is smoothed tremendously by placing covers over the wheel housings and drag is also reduced. On some hybrids tiny cameras are placed where mirrors are generally positioned on conventional cars.