With the cost of gasoline expected to continue rising, and concerns for the effects of pollution on the environment leading to countries resolving to lower their production of atmospheric pollutants, automakers have realized that extremely efficient vehicles must be developed. Hybrid cars are the response of automakers to these concerns, and these vehicles offer several benefits in both fuel efficiency and pollution reduction.
Convenience
Unlike cars that run entirely on electricity, hybrid vehicles use both an electric motor and gasoline engine to provide power. The electric motor reduces the gasoline needed to run the vehicle, while the gas motor provides extra accelerating and cruising power only when needed. The gasoline engine also serves to help recharge the hybrid's batteries, making it unnecessary to plug the car into an electrical power source for recharging. Since the car never needs to be plugged into an external power source for extended periods to recharge its batteries like a purely electrically powered vehicle, owners of hybrids can drive them as they would a normal gasoline-powered vehicle while still benefitting from their improved fuel efficiency.
Fuel Efficiency
Hybrid vehicles get up to 35% better mileage from a gallon of gasoline than a standard gas-powered vehicle. The immediate result of this higher efficiency is that the vehicle can travel farther on a single tank of gas than a gasoline-powered vehicle. This also lowers fuel costs for the owner of the hybrid, as well as reducing the total amount of gasoline consumed worldwide. The net result is a reduction in the overall public demand for gasoline, which helps conserve the oil supplies needed to produce it.
Less Pollution
Hybrid cars produce up to 35% fewer emissions than vehicles powered by gasoline alone. Automobiles are a significant source of carbon dioxide--a greenhouse gas that contributes to atmospheric warming--and nitrogen oxides and reactive hydrocarbons, which are the main components of smog. Reductions in the amount of these gases produced by vehicles contribute to the reduction of smog and help to lower the amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere.
Costs
Hybrid cars require less gasoline to operate than normal vehicles. Their high fuel efficiency allows them to travel further on a gallon of gasoline, which reduces the total costs for fuel that the owner of hybrid must pay for. Although hybrids initially cost more to purchase than normal vehicles when first offered for sale, government tax incentives helped to lower this cost. Although these tax incentives have expired, new hybrids are becoming competitive in price with normal gasoline-powered vehicles, which further increases the benefits to be had from better fuel economy and lower gasoline bills.
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