Energy and Hybrid Cars
As the cost of oil prices rise, consumers are becoming more aware of the gas prices as they fill their cars. For many commuters, walking and biking are not an option to and from large cities and public transportation continues to leave something to be desired. Although most people are not concerned with the rapidly depleting oil supplies around the world, they are feeling the pinch at the pump. This brings the attention to the possibility of hybrid cars, with their claims of superior gas mileage. But what is a hybrid car and does it serve as a possible solution to decrease our oil consumption?
Combining gasoline and electricity, car makers have designed a hybrid automobile, utilizing the basic
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The battery serves as an energy storage device and the electric motor draw energy from the batteries while also putting energy into them. Finally, the cars contain a transmission, which remains very similar to those in traditional cars1. But the question remains, how does this new complex system help the environment?
The hybrid car was created not only to improve mileage, a benefit for consumers who dreaded the weekly trip to the pump, but also to reduce emissions from the tailpipe. Both these goals help the environment, as decreasing emissions should reduce the risk of eminent global warming, and improved mileage means less oil would be consumed by the cars. In normal automobile, 13% of the energy in the gasoline is actually used to move the vehicle2. The major losses in energy efficiency come from acceleration, aerodynamic drag, and rolling resistance. Making a high strength lightweight material reduces the overall mass of the material and hence reduces the energy needed for acceleration. Smoother shaped vehicles dramatically reduce drag and better tire designs cut the rolling distance of the vehicle2. But these are just basic improvements to be made to the generic automobile to increase efficiency.
The basic idea behind the hybrid car involves utilizing a smaller, more efficient engine. A bigger engine, while able to reach high speeds quickly, remains pointless for typical driving and
Many people buy hybrid cars because they have been told that hybrids are much more eco-friendly than any other vehicles out on the market and they feel proud for supporting the Mother Nature. Surprisingly, it is a fact that a recent report announced that the Toyota Prius has a higher life time energy cost than Hummer H1 SUV (kentlaw.edu). It also states, “There are, however, environmental costs to mining and smelting (in Canada) 1,000 tons a year of zinc for the battery-powered second motor, and the shipping of the zinc 10,000 miles - trailing a cloud of carbon - to Wales for refining and then to China for turning it into the component that goes to a battery factory in Japan” (kentlaw.edu). In other words, the hybrids emit less carbon dioxide and other gases but it releases far more energies and toxic gases into atmosphere at production and disposal stage.
The author first explains what a hybrid is, stating “A hybrid is a cross between two established varieties of plant, animal… or technology.” She introduces the hybrid vehicle, a new form of technology that stands as a possible answer for a vehicle that is both energy preserving and safer for the environment. Before she dives into details of how the vehicle works, she enlightens the reader on what the article is about and the objective of the hybrid vehicle. Students enrolling in an engineering course in a post-secondary institution will be more
There has been lots of controversy on whether hybrid vehicles are environmentally better than gas vehicles. In this new age of technology and vast growth of human population, there would have to be ways to make driving environmentally healthy considering the fact that millions of people drive(Goffman, “Electric Car Batteries Could Provide Energy for the Smart Grid”). Hybrid cars use clean electric , while gas powered cars use harmful polluting fossil fuels. For the most part, to make sure that this world becomes cleaner, hybrid cars will definitely need to be used in the future. Hybrid cars are environmentally better than gas cars.
Hybrid cars are built on the advantages of both combustion engine cars and battery-powered electric motor cars, and the hybrid cars will be an alternative to combustion engine cars until next step technologies such as fully electric vehicles or fuel-cell powered vehicles will take over. This article supports the ideas shown in the main source through hybrid vehicle technology.
Some people have also adopted the hybrid car trend, although many people think hybrid cars help the environment as well. Hybrid cars still uses some form of a gasoline when it is being used, thus creating carbon dioxide emissions. Whereas, the electric vehicle produces no emissions.
Thesis statement: it is hypothesized that compared with the gas powered vehicles, hybrids offer more benefits in maintenance, are cost-effective, and most importantly environmental-friendly.
Before you consider a hybrid vehicle for economic reasons, such as leaving less of a carbon foot print, or not making as much carbon monoxide output as you would driving a normal gasoline powered car, realize this, to get the materials necessary for the hybrid motors it requires an extreme amount of mining and relocation of wildlife. Not to forget the enormous amount of tailings and hazards left behind as a byproduct of the materials needed. This causes more damage to the environment than the emissions from a normal gasoline powered
I. A hybrid car is a vehicle with more than one power source such as a small internal combustion engine and an electric motor.
Some people think that electric cars are great on power but in reality they are not great on power. According to Alternative Fuel Vehicles hybrids smaller are internal combustion engines and lighter weight help maximize efficiency, but can reduce acceleration.
Electric cars are becoming very popular in today’s world and are becoming more main stream. One reason for this is the need for automobiles that have a lower or a zero carbon footprint. For the majority of the history of the automobile, the propulsion system was a gas or a diesel engine that would run off of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is very hazardous to our world and also creates much toxic pollution. However, electric cars run off of electricity, which is a very clean and pollution free resource, depending on how the electricity was produced of course. In this paper we are going to examine the history of electric cars, look into modern electric car technology, and peer into the future of electric car technology to see if EVs might be the answer to dramatically reducing our global pollution.
The main component of a car would be the power that actually puts the car in motion. To be solely dependent on one power source is not a very good idea as it is not eco-friendly and at the same time not suitable. By 2040, half of all the new cars being sold will be hybrids, according to Exxon Mobile. Hybrid Cars are the cars that uses more than one power sources to run the car. It is usually referred to the Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) which has both the internal combustion engine and electric motors that generates power. One of the main problem with these hybrid cars is that their batteries are extremely heavy and takes up a large amount of space in the car. The concept of Hybrid cars can be a good thing to the environment, but definitely not for the car manufacturer or the customer. Hybrid cars have a convincing amount of weight due to their batteries, even with the existence of lithium-ion batteries. As a solution, Energy Storing Body Panels are used.
Climate change occurs mainly because of human activities, such as harvesting resources, industrialization, and technological invention, among other factors. One of the main reasons climate change has occurred in the last a few decades is because conventional cars which made their first appearance in 1886, have become increasingly popular. Although, conventional cars are more efficient and less expensive than hybrid cars, hybrid cars help reduce the negative impact on the environment more than conventional cars. A Hybrid car has disadvantages due to the battery and power of the engine, which has to improve over time, which makes people less likely to buy hybrid cars over conventional cars in the present such as gas and diesel. Even though both conventional and electric cars have negative impact on the environment, they have different scale of impact on the environment. By looking at how each system of both types of cars work, what the effect on fuel consumption rate and greenhouse gas emissions are, and what the disadvantages of electric cars are compared to conventional cars, hybrid electric cars are less likely to negatively impact on the environment more than conventional cars.
According to a November 16, 2004 article written in the parents magazine, hybrid cars are no different from the gas powered car. It can accelerate just as quickly and travel just as fast on the highway and they are just as safe to drive. When the car comes to a complete stop,
Gasoline engine - The hybrid car has a gasoline engine much like the one you will find on most cars. However, the engine on a hybrid is smaller and uses advanced technologies to reduce emissions and increase efficiency. The engine turns the generator. It is not able to power the car directly.
Figures of different hybrid models will also be included as well as a table comparing the costs of various hybrids to traditionally fuelled cars. This will help the audience get a sense of the price ranges for hybrid vehicles before they go out and decide to buy one. Finally, a table dealing with the performance specs of hybrids will be added to emphasize certain limitations with these models.