by Tanisha Lawrence

Created on: May 10, 2009   Last Updated: May 11, 2009

A hybrid; a result of mixing elements is something made up of a mixture of different aspects or components or a thing composed of diverse elements. When we say the Hybrid, this is referring to the modern electrical vehicle that marries conventional propulsion/gas and fuel with a rechargeable energy storage system.

Electricity is a natural phenomenon known only by its effects, as electric charge, electric current, electric field and electro-magnetism. It is energy created by moving charged particles: a fundamental form of kinetic or potential energy created by the free or controlled movement of charged particles such as electrons, positrons, and ions.

It is not uncommon for vehicles to be electrically powered nor is it a new thing to our world. Electric vehicles have been around for ages. In fact there were vehicles such as streetcar, automobile, or railroad locomotive that operated by electricity and were called an electric. It was as early as 1901that Ferdinand Porsche while employed at Lohner Coach Factory, designed the "Mixte", a series-hybrid vehicle based on his earlier "System Lohner-Porsche" electric carriage. The Mixte broke several Austrian speed records, as well as winning the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. The Mixte used a gasoline engine powering a generator, which in turn powered electric hub motors, with a small battery pack for reliability. It had a range of 50 km, a top speed of 50 km/h and a power of 5.22 kW during 20 minutes.

Although HEVs have a long history it was not until the late 1990s that she appeared on the market and became widely available to the public only with the introduction of the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, which are viewed by some automakers as a core segment of the future automotive market.[i] Today the hybrid is a hugely common type of vehicle. Futurist magazine recently included hybrid electric vehicles as cars of the near future.[ii] Worldwide sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrids reached 1.7 million vehicles by January 2009.[iii] Hybrid cars are now a top priority for every American automaker. [iv]

The advantage to owning such a vehicle is that it achieves better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle. The type of vehicle is manufactured with secondary propulsion systems as well as the electric motors so that it does not require regular visits to a charging unit the same as a battery electric vehicle (BEV) does. Additional to the fact that the modern mass produced hybrid does not need

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