You may have seen one pass you in the high occupancy lane, a lone driver behind the wheel. It’s a gas-electric hybrid car and driving in the HOV lane is just one of the benefits of owning in many states. But what is a hybrid? How does it work? Is it the right car for you and your family?
A hybrid car has a gasoline engine and a battery. The battery is recharged with energy from the gasoline engine that would normally be lost during braking or deceleration. The car uses either the battery or the gasoline engine depending on several factors, including the speed at which the car is traveling. Sometimes the two will work together to provide an extra boost of power without using too much extra fuel.
The result of this technology is cars that get significantly better fuel economy and produce less carbon dioxide emissions than traditional gasoline cars. For example, according to Honda, the 2006 Civic Hybrid gets 50 miles per gallon on the highway, 14 miles per gallon better than the regular 2003 Civic. When driving the national average of 12,000 miles, that’s a savings of 69 gallons of gasoline and 258 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
In the early days of hybrid cars, there were few models to choose from. People who wanted to buy a hybrid car were stuck in tiny cars with little cargo space. Today, however, manufacturers produce hybrid cars and light trucks in almost every category, including family-size sedans, sport utility vehicles and minivans. The smaller cars still get the best gas mileage, but the larger hybrids consistently outperform their regular brethren in fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions.
Unfortunately, hybrid cars cost more than normal models. In the case of the 2006 Honda Civic, the hybrid model costs almost $7,000 more than the regular model. Congress passed a law giving hybrid car owners tax credits that went into effect on January 1, 2006 and would save the buyer of a 2006 Civic Hybrid $2,100. It would take several years to break even on a hybrid purchase based on gas savings alone. Yet many hybrid owners are just as dedicated to the environmental benefits of driving a hybrid as they are to the money they save.
One of the fears when hybrid cars first became available was that maintenance and insurance costs would be prohibitive. Research has shown that regular maintenance costs for hybrid vehicles are no higher than for normal vehicles. Additionally, hybrid car owners are less likely to be involved in accidents, and some insurance companies have begun offering discounts to hybrid car owners.
