Recent Stories About Hybrids:
- XL Hybrids Upfits via Knapheide Ship-Thru
- ACT Expo 2013 Agenda & Speakers
- Toyota Hybrids Pass 5 Million Mark
- APTA Sums Up Alt Fuel Use
- UQM, Capstone for Denver MallRide
What are Hybrids?
A hybrid vehicle couples a fuel engine with (usually) an electric drivetrain, affording
the key advantage of regenerative braking — force from the action of stopping is
gathered and used for acceleration, saving fuel and in many cases allowing for a smaller engine.
Braking force is usually stored as electricity in a battery (or ultracapacitor or, more rarely, in a flywheel device).
Large battery packs can allow an HEV – hybrid electric vehicle – to be a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. A PHEV can be charged from the grid or solar or other system, and for limited distances requires no fuel engine at all.
Braking force can also be stored hydraulically, in a pressure vessel similar to a CNG
tank, resulting in an hydraulic hybrid vehicle, or HHV. In certain truck sectors, HHVs
are emerging as the preferred alternative to HEVs, especially for applications like
garbage collection and package delivery requiring limited distance capability but lots
of starts and stops.
Vehicles with parallel hybrid drives get motive force from a conventional engine-
transmission arrangement, with electricity or hydraulic force contributing. In a
series drive, all of the force driving the wheel comes from the electric or hydraulic
system with the fuel engine serving solely to recharge the battery or pressurize the
hydraulic accumulator.
Toyota passed the four MILLION mark for world hybrid sales in April 2012 – with 1.5 million in the United States.
