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are many times conventional transmissions. Some, like the Toyota Prius, have radically different ones.

A parallel hybrid has a fuel tank that supplies the gasoline to the engine and a set of batteries that supplies the power to the electric motor. Both the engine and the electric motor can turn the transmission at the same time and the transmission turns the wheels. In a series hybrid, the gas engine turns a generator which can charge the batteries or power an electric motor that drives the transmission. This means the gas engine never directly powers the vehicle.

In a hybrid car, the gasoline engine can be much smaller and more efficient than in a conventional car. The hybrid engine is powerful enough to move on the freeway, but if it needs to go up a steep hill, or accelerate quickly, it needs help which comes from the electric motor and battery-giving the extra power needed.

Today's hybrids also have a few tricks to increase fuel efficiency. A hybrid can recover energy and store it in the battery. When you step on the brake in your car, you remove energy from the car. The faster a car is going, the more kinetic energy it has. The brakes remove this energy and dissipate it in the form of heat. A hybrid car can capture some of this energy and store it in the battery for later use. Instead of just using the brakes to stop the car, the electric motor can slow the car and act as a generator and charges the batteries while the car is slowing down. This is called regenerative braking. Sometimes the hybrid car will turn off the gas engine and use the electric motor and batteries to save fuel, usually when stopped at a red light. Tires on most cars are optimized to give a smooth ride, and provide good traction in various weather conditions while minimizing noise. But they creat a lot of drag when you are driving. Hybrid cars use special tires that are stiffer and inflated to a higher pressure than conventional tires which causes about half the normal drag. Some hybrids use composite materials like carbon fiber or aluminum and magnesium to reduce weight.

The Toyota Prius came out in Japan at the end of 1997 and is designed to reduce emmissions in urban areas. It uses a specially designed parallel hybrid powertrain to do this. The Prius meets California's low emission standard and the powertrain is capable of accelerating the car to speeds up to 15 mph on electric power alone. This gives better city mileage. The Prius has two feature to optimize efficiency and reduce

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