The Innovative Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Transportation is an important facet of our everyday lives. We drive cars to get to and from work. We use them to go grocery shopping, run errands, and pick up the kids. Cities, states, and countries use all different sorts of transportation to keep things running smoothly. If the trucking industry were to stop immediately, the world would stop with it, as we require truck to carry goods and services to the stores where we buy them.

The problem is, while we need transportation to survive in our modern culture, it has a lot of negative environmental impacts, such as increased pollution and greenhouse emissions. As global warming continues to increase, scientists, researchers, and engineers are doing their best to offset some of the pollution. In comes the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (or HEV).

A New World of Transportation

As our pollution problem continues to increase, we must continue to find newer, cleaner ways to get around. When the transportation industry uses over a quarter of the total world’s energy, then we need to develop technology that takes the strain off the using up of that energy. That’s exactly what a HEV does.

The HEV is literally the best of both worlds. Take your typical combustion engine and combine it with an electric motor and a battery to power it. HEV vehicles are considered a ‘bridge in the gap’ between the old way of doing things (combustion engines) and what will eventually be our future (fully electrical engines) by combining the two technologies into one.

Since hybrid cars have been in circulation since 1997 at the height of the environmental crisis, the past few years has seen the technology increase to include trucks and busses. When you have entire cities switching their bus system to hybrid engines and/or switching to the higher quality and cleaner diesel fuels and technology, it cuts down on pollution within that city big time.

4 Ways HEVs Will Impact the Planet’s Health

1. The reduction of pollution.
   HEV vehicles run using the electric engine and battery first. Once the juice runs out, it will kick back over to the conventional combustion engine. While it’s not a full-time solution, it is cutting back on a lot of pollutants getting into the air. If you only live a few miles away from work and the store, then you’ll rarely have to use the gasoline or diesel engine, charging the battery in between runs.
2. Using less oil.
   Oil is a natural resource and it’s one we can run out of soon. Not only does it produce pollution when it’s burned, it forces us to rely on foreign oil. Since OPEC determines the gas prices, a country could easily handcuff us due to our dependence on their product. So, not only does using less oil cause less pollution, it decreases the amount we need to use.
3. Reduced cost.
   Yes, it’s true that a hybrid vehicle costs more than a conventional combustion engine car, but throughout the life of the vehicle, your costs will be substantially reduced. Consider this: no regular oil changes, less money wasted on maintenance costs, and less money spent on fuel. If you can run it purely on the battery the majority of the time, then the amount you spend on fuel is virtually nil.
4. Long term use.
   Hybrid technology is simply just the beginning. Man is destined to discover new ways of using only electric batteries and engines, completely removing the combustion engine out of circulation for good.

The technology is changing. Our world is getting smarter and more passionate about ways to stop global warming and to heal our warming planet. Hybrid is just one of the many ways we start to find solutions to this ever-growing problem.

Source: http://www.unep.org/transport/pcfv/PDF/HEV_Report.pdf