08-16-2017, 08:45 PM
Abstract
When most people are perfectly happy with their gasoline-powered cars. The reason is twofold: to reduce tailpipe emissions and to improve mileage. The current standards require that the average mileage of all the new cars sold by an automaker should be 27.5 mpg (8.55 liters per 100 km).
This means that if an automaker sells one hybrid car that gets 60 mpg (3.92 liters per 100 km), it can then sell four big, expensive luxury cars that only get 20 mpg (11.76 liters per 100 km)! when a car pulled up to the gas pump lately and been shocked by the high price of gasoline?
As the pump clicked past $20 or $30, maybe you thought about trading in car for something that gets better mileage. Or maybe worried that the car is contributing to the greenhouse effect. The auto industry has the technology to address these concerns. It's the hybrid car. You're probably aware of hybrid.
Any vehicle is a hybrid when it combines two or more sources of power. This is an improvement over the electric car, which uses gasoline engine along with electric motor powered by batteries. In the series system of the hybrid car engine driven generator is employed to recharge the batteries while the electric motor drives the car. Where as in parallel system the heat engine is directly connected to the electric motor.
The key to a hybrid car is that the gasoline engine can be much smaller than the one in a conventional car and therefore more efficient.
Introduction:
We might wonder why anyone would build such a complicated machine when most people are perfectly happy with their gasoline-powered cars. The reason is twofold: to reduce tailpipe emissions and to improve mileage. The emissions standards dictate how much of each type of pollution a car is allowed to emit in to atmosphere. The amount is usually specified in grams per mile (g/mi). The low emissions vehicle (LEV) standard allows 3.4 g/mi of carbon monoxide.
The key thing here is that the amount of pollution allowed does not depend on the mileage of the car gets. But a car that burns twice as much gas to go a mile will generate approximately twice as much pollution. That pollution will have to be removed by the emissions control equipment on the car. So decreasing the fuel consumption of the car is one of the surest ways to decrease emissions.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is another type of pollution a car produces. The government does not regulate it, but scientists suspect that it contributes to global warming. Since it is not regulated, a car has no devices for removing CO2 from the exhaust, so a car that burns twice as much gas adds twice as much CO2 to the atmosphere.
Automakers have another strong incentive to improve mileage. They are required by law to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The current standards require that the average mileage of all the new cars sold by an automaker should be 27.5 mpg (8.55 liters per 100 km). This means that if an automaker sells one hybrid car that gets 60 mpg (3.92 liters per 100 km).
What is hybrid?
Any vehicle is a hybrid when it combines two or more sources of power. In fact, many people have probably owned a hybrid vehicle at some point. For example, a mo-ped (a motorized pedal bike) is a type of hybrid because it combines the power of a gasoline engine with the pedal power of its rider.
Hybrid vehicles are all around us. Most of the locomotives we see pulling trains are diesel-electric hybrids. We have diesel-electric trains -- these can draw electric power from overhead wires or run on diesel when they are away from the wires. Giant mining trucks are often diesel-electric hybrids.
The gasoline-electric hybrid car is just that -- a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car.
How hybrid car works
The below figure shows a gas-powered car. It has a fuel tank, which supplies gasoline to the engine. The engine then turns a transmission, which turns the wheels. an electric car, which has a set of batteries that provides electricity to an electric motor. The motor turns a transmission, and the transmission turns the wheels.
