Hybrid Cars: Fact “Vs” Fiction

Even though hybrid cars are growing in popularity as more and more people turn to them in order to save on their gasoline cost and prevent the environment from pollution, there are still a huge cart load of myths that seem to follow hybrid cars wherever they go. Over here, we plan to disillusion a lot of people who seem to carry around more fiction than fact when it comes to hybrid vehicles.

Fiction: You have to plug in your hybrid car in order to charge the battery.
Fact: Hybrid cars never need to be plugged into an external source of power to be charged. This is because hybrid car batteries get charged by the power that is generally lost as heat when a vehicle brakes or decelerates through a process known as regenerative braking. So unlike an electric car, you will never need to charge your hybrid car by plugging it in.

Fiction: Hybrid car batteries are very costly to replace and last a max of two years.
Fact: In the first place, hybrid car batteries nowadays are guaranteed to last for at least eight years and generally do so without any problems. In case you face battery problems during the warranty period, then your manufacturer will repair or replace it free of cost. On the other hand, even if your battery misbehaves after the warranty period is over, then you can easily replace only the malfunctioning modules (and pay somewhere around $60 per module) instead of replacing the whole battery pack.

Fiction: You can drive your car on the electric motor whenever you run out of gas.
Fact: Well…not exactly! If your battery gets discharged or your electric motor stops working, then you can easily go on driving your hybrid vehicle as a normal vehicle using only the gas engine. However, the same thing does not apply to a situation where your gas engine gives up. This is because the electric motor is designed to work in conjunction with the gas engine, where it keeps getting charged continuously during the process of driving and braking. The electric motor works on its own only for very short periods of time, so it is almost impossible to keep driving around with only your NiMH battery for power. Even if you do manage to drive on electric power for some time, you will be harming your battery for life.

Fiction: Hybrid cars give you a fuel economy of more than sixty miles per gallon.
Fact: Not our hybrid cars. No. the maximum increase in fuel economies that most hybrid car manufacturers promise you is 30%-40%. As such, most of the hybrids being sold today give you fuel economies of thirty to fifty miles per gallon, provided you drive them as per instructions, which you might not be able to do in most cases. Generally, a hybrid will save you a max of 15%-20% fuel in real life with real driving conditions. Your fuel economy with a hybrid will be greatly influenced by driving conditions and you will get higher mileage while city driving than what you would get while driving on the highway.