All you need to know about hybrid cars

The common hybrid car of today, also known as a petroleum electric hybrid vehicle, or PEHV, uses both a gasoline combustion engine and a rechargeable energy storage system to work. As most people know, the biggest attraction of these hybrid vehicles is the incredible gas mileage, with the Honda Insight clocking in at over 60mpg, as well as the reduced carbon dioxide emissions found with hybrids, as well.

The paranoia and panic surrounding hybrids have been the criticisms of electric and hydrogen cars from the beginning: they don’t handle well, the charge will run out while you're in the middle of the highway and leave you stranded, no one likes limits on how far you can drive per day and you just don’t go very fast.

How much of the paranoia is based on reality and how much of it is talking points handed down by Exxon and Shell? Let’s take a look.

Hybrids are, generally, more expensive to buy than regular cars. Fans of hybrids talk about the “payback period” or the time it takes for you to earn your money back from what you would have spent on gas if you had bought a regular car. Everyone’s payback period differs depending on how much you drive.

The idea that a hybrid of electric car can’t handle as well as the average car was put to rest with the recent release of the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. Even with the early 90s release of the General Motors EV1, the old fashioned concept of the clunky and slow non-gasoline car was shown to be false but because of the lack of penetration of the EV1, this concept has had legs.

The idea that the charge on the car will run out in the middle of driving and leave you stranded is somewhat true when you consider the EV1 was a completely electric car with no gas engine backup and if you are likely to ignore your gas gauge, there is no reason to think you won’t ignore your electricity gauge. But with a hybrid car, you have a backup in case you run out of electric juice.

The same goes for the limits on how much you can drive per day. While study after study showed that the majority of people commute less than 50 miles per day and the EV1 was capable of more miles per charge, people felt constricted by the idea that they couldn’t randomly drive across the country if they felt like it. With hybrid cars, if you can fill up the gas tank, you can go.

The hybrid car simply isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some people want a mean, dirty, noisy SUV or truck that people can hear coming from a mile away. But for the rest of us that care about global warming and saving money at the pumps, a hybrid car is just what we’re looking for.