David Murray may drive the quietest car in North Texas, powered only by a small electric motor, and not creating any emissions. “The most common question I get is, ‘Is this an electric car?’ and then they’re like, “Is it a hybrid?’ Nope, it’s a real electric (car),” Murray said. When his car is low on fuel, Murray simply plugs the power cord into the nearest outlet. “Yeah, just plug it in here. Just a regular old extension cord,” Murray said. The self-described computer geek from Kennedale bought the 1993 Eagle Talon from a junkyard for just 0. “First thing I did when I got the car home was pull the engine out,” Murray said. He then spent about 00 more to convert the gas-guzzler to run on electricity alone, doing all the work himself in his garage at home. “I bought the electric motor and I was like well, I gotta figure out a way to couple it together with the original transmission,” he said. The car can hit 55 mph, driving right past the high prices at gas stations. “I hear people complain about them at work all the time. I just grin,” he said. Murray spends just per month on electricity to charge the batteries — enough to go about 300 miles. “I don’t even look at the gas prices,” Murray said.
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It’s pretty interesting how people are becoming more aware of their environment nowadays. This can be seen on the increasing amount of environment friendly products in the market these days. Additionally, they’ve become aware of the various factors that contribute to the threatening pollution in the environment. Hence, companies started developing less toxic emitting products that also do well to the environment and one of the most prominent of this kind would be hybrid cars. As starter, here’s the history of the hybrid car.

It’s All About Steam
The concept of creating environment friendly or alternatively powered vehicles started with the idea of vehicles running with the use of steam. Between 1665 to1885 a couple of ideas regarding steam powered vehicles were noted. First off would be astronomer and Flemish Jesuit priest Ferdinand Verbiest, who had plans for a small four-wheeled unmanned steam car. Next would be Nicholas Cugnot who built a carriage powered by steam that was able to run for 6 miles/hour. Lastly would be Goldsworthy Gurney who was able to create a steam car that could run an 85 mile journey in just 10 hours.

Then Came Electricity
It was also quite early when people started conceptualizing and later on creating electricity powered cars. It was in 1839 when Scotsman Robert Anderson first created an electrically powered vehicle. Then, significant development was noted during the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. In fact, it was during this time when a lot of companies started making use of electricity to power their vehicles.

Electric Cabs
Additionally electrically powered cabs became prominent during the 1897, because this is when the London Electric Cab Company started their regular service by the use of cars which were made by Walter Bersey. It was called the Bersey Cab. This cab uses a 40-cell battery with a 3 HP electric motor. People were able to drive it 50 miles in between charges.

The First Porsche Hybrid
It was during 1898 when Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was able to build his very first car, which was called Lohner Electric Chaise. This car was also 1st front-wheel-drive. Then, the second car that he made was a hybrid. Here, he used an internal combustion engine so that the car’s generator would spin. In effect, it produced power to be used by electric motors, which could be found on the wheel hubs. Just using batteries, the car was able to travel about 40 miles.

Going Large Scale
In the past, manufacturers weren’t really able to create as much cars as they wanted. This is because they weren’t equipped with the right tools and machines to do so. However, as technology developed, car companies were able to make big batches of production.

In fact, by 1900, American car companies were able to create made 936 gasoline, 1,575 electric 1,681 steam car. People were also becoming more open with the use of electric cars. This can be seen on a poll which was conducted during the 1st National Automobile Show, where patrons actually favored electric cars for their 1st choice, while steam cars placed second on a very close fight.

During the first couple of years in the 20th century, thousands of hybrid and electric cars were actually created. However, when Henry Ford’s car line arrived along with the start of self-starting gas engines, this signalled the rapid decline of hybrid cars during 1920.

Fuelled Cars Taking The Limelight
When fuelled cars were introduced, this became a very significant period of time for hybrid cars. Simply because people started opting for gasoline fuelled cars than those that were hybrids. Additionally, car manufacturing companies, like Ford also created lines of gas fuelled automobiles that were quite cheap to buy. Since these cars were cheap, people started buying the cheap gas cars than those more expensive hybrid cars.

Hence, gas fuelled cars took the limelight for quite some time. In fact, up to now, gas fuelled vehicles are still on the spot light.

However, hybrid cars were still somewhere in the backdrop. Sadly, only those that were creating cars for themselves or those that stayed in rural areas and had the means to create their own cars still hold on to this kind of vehicle.

Nevertheless, people have become aware of the benefits of hybrids nowadays. Hence, they are coming back into the picture. Ironically, most people think that such cars were only invented recently. However the colourful history of the hybrid car simply shows that it started quite early and was only overshadowed by gas fuelled cars due to convenience and money matters.

As the world’s supply of oil inevitably runs out and the prices of gasoline continue to skyrocket to staggering new heights, more and more people have begun to look for an alternative way to power their cars, as well as to save some money. Thankfully, the rise of hybrid cars are providing a much needed solution to these problems and more. The popularity of hybrid cars continue to grow as more people begin to realize the many advantages that hybrid cars hold over conventional ones.

So, what is a hybrid car and how does it work?

As the name suggests, hybrid cars utilizes a combination of different technologies. Hybrid cars use an electric propulsion system together with of a gas propulsion system to great effect.

Hybrids cars consist mostly of the same basic parts as normal gas cars. They contain a gasoline engine, a fuel tank, batteries, and a transmission. The difference is that hybrid cars also contain an electric motor and in some cases a generator, that work in conjunction with the gasoline engine to run the transmission.

A hybrid car can work in different ways.

In a parallel hybrid system, both the gasoline engine and the electric motor are connected to the transmission. The car alternates between the two and sometime uses them together. It typically works by using the electric motor to power the car at lower speeds and once the car reaches a certain speed, the car will automatically switch to the gasoline engine to give it extra power.

Other cars use what is called a series hybrid system. In this method, the gasoline engine is used to power a generator. The generator is responsible for charging the batteries that power the electric motor, which in turn, turns the transmission causing the car to move. The gasoline engine in a series hybrid never actually runs the car directly.

Some of the later hybrid models have a feature that stores up the kinetic energy that is built up when braking and uses it to further charge the car’s batteries.

The biggest advantage of a hybrid is that it uses a lot less fuel than normal cars. Hybrid owners will be very happy with the mileage that these cars are capable of.

It also helps that hybrid cars tend to be built with lighter materials like aluminum and plastic. The engine is also typically smaller and specially designed to consume less fuel.

Environmentalist will also be very pleased with hybrids seeing as how they emit far less air pollution. Using a hybrid car helps makes our world a cleaner and more beautiful place to live in.

The government is also very fond of hybrid cars. So much so that they’re offering buyers tax incentives and other benefits. In some states, hybrid car owners can drive their hybrids in the high occupancy lane, even if they’re all alone in their cars.

The earlier hybrid car models tended to have unique and special designs, but as more and more manufacturers are catching on to the hybrid craze, they have begun to create hybrid versions of their normal cars. The Honda Civic Hybrid for example, looks more or less exactly like a regular Civic.

Buying a hybrid car will inevitably cost more than a regular one. However, the money that is saved from the lower fuel consumption, along with the tax deductions will eventually make up for the extra cost of a hybrid. Those who drive frequently will be the ones that benefit most from this.

With all the of the benefits that hybrid cars give, it’s no wonder that they’re so quickly gaining in popularity. Hybrid owners figure that it’s an excellent way to save money on gas and it gives them a good feeling, knowing that they’re making a difference in the environment.

So those who are in interested should go seriously consider owning one and join the ever growing number of people who are stepping into the future with hybrid cars.