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What’s a Hybrid vehicle? If you ask the average car consumer it seems most have heard of a hybrid vehicle but many can’t give you a definition of one. If you look in Webster’s hybrid is defined as: An adjective meaning a product of crossbreeding. Now you can look at this and see it doesn’t have quite the car feel you would think but it basically means taking 2 similar species and combining them to make one “hybrid.”

The definition above really does fit today’s hybrid vehicles perfectly. A hybrid car is a vehicle that has both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. The gasoline engine is often built smaller than you would find in regular vehicles, allowing the electric motor to compensate with its stored energy. You have a high-voltage battery that charges the electric motor and although people still associate a hybrid vehicle as a car that has to be “plugged in” to charge, this only refers to the older hybrid cars. The newer hybrids today actually recharge themselves when not in use.

Many car consumers will buy a hybrid car just to do their part for the environment and I congratulate them for it, but they might not care to find out how it works or what running options there are. A hybrid car has the ability to run solely on either of the energy sources; the gasoline engine or the electric motor. However, most drivers operate their hybrid vehicle using both resources even though they may not know it.

There’s a good possibility that you won’t even know what’s going on under the hood when you’re driving around in your new hybrid. Most hybrids generally run off the power from the gasoline engine. However, when the hybrid does its thing and feels the electric motor is needed, it will take over from the gasoline engine.

The hybrid car goes into conservation mode when it doesn’t require the power of the gasoline engine, it will shut down and let the electric motor take over when the car comes to a stop. For example, when the vehicle is at a traffic light, the gasoline engine will shut off until the gas pedal is pushed again. While the car is stopped and running on the electric motor, other components like the radio, lights etc.. will continue to run seamlessly due to the battery of the electric motor. Although not all hybrids work like this, many hybrids do.

As you can imagine there have been some problems with the design of the stopped engine. When the gasoline engine stops there is virtual silence from your car which can confuse individuals in thinking it’s not running. How many times have you got in your car and thought it wasn’t running and restarted it, and then said to yourself after the horrifying grind, “why don’t you start it again hot shot,” then look around to see if anyone noticed?

One of the improvements that some hybrid car manufacturers have added is an indicator light near the speedometer or on the dashboard where you’d usually see other indicator lights like the engine light. This light will tell the driver or a worker that the car is still on and is running on the electric motor.

There are many benefits with owning a hybrid car, some will prefer the gas savings and some will prefer the environmental friendliness of the car. With the hybrid vehicle only running on the gas engine when needed it saves gas and in turn money, a hybrid will usually average about 50 miles per gallon. Knowing that the hybrid will use less gasoline, it only stands to reason that it will cut down emissions and not by a little but by 90% as compared to a gas only vehicle. Also, the gasoline engines are usually a bit smaller and more efficient meaning even when they are running they are reducing their total exhaust emissions.

One of the biggest features of a hybrid vehicle is their weight, which is why they can be powered by a smaller engine. The construction of some of the top rated hybrids are generally made from aluminum and plastic, but are constructed in a way that stability is achieved using panels in various shapes to reinforce the design. Although manufacturers want to ensure they’re playing the “help save the environment” game they certainly don’t want to compromise safety.

Two of the more well know hybrid vehicles are the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight and for good reason, they’re the ones that broke the ice. They were introduced to the US in 2000 and today many more manufacturers are working to ensure they are not left behind. Don’t think for a moment that all these hybrids or environmentally friendly cars are going to be little roller skates either, there are big plans coming soon with SUVs, full sized trucks and minivans.

With the growing popularity, the growing care for our environment and the documented savings on gas, people are starting to line for these babies so you can guarantee that all manufacturers will be competing for your business. The prices will drop and the hybrid car styling will be very attractive, a good example of this is the 2008 Chevy Malibu, it has it all and is being touted as the best rated car for 2008 and for good reason.

If that isn’t enough to at least get you to take a look at what hybrids offer, some cities are offering free parking and some employers are offering employee incentives to move to hybrid cars. There are also some cities that are allowing hybrid owners to use the carpool and bus lanes as a reward for taking global warming seriously.

With the list of benefits growing and the price dropping, it only makes good sense to, at the very least, include a hybrid vehicle to your list if you’re shopping for a new car. Do yourself, your family and especially the environment a big favor.