Best Hybrid Cars

Critical Things You Need to Know About the Best Hybrid Cars

What is the best hybrid car? That is a question that cannot be easily answered.  When talking about HEV's (Hybrid Electric Vehicles) - the best ones will both give you the highest possible use out of your electric half vs your gas half. The miles per gallon is important because obviously the more miles per gallon the more electric your car expels and that means the cleaner the car. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Find a cheap HEV Here! 

Newer hybrids tend to be pricier, but you can sometimes find a good used Hybrid.

Many electric cars lack range. Let's say you are taking a long trip somewhere – say Florida and you are in New York City. That is a good 20+ hour drive. A lot of highway driving and you have a purely electric car. You know you are going to get there with little money spent on gas assuming you can get your car charged up. Getting power to your car when on the road is really the problem because no one has yet to create a compact and lightweight battery that can be used to cover driving distances without having to replenish the stationary source. In short – electric cars get the job done, you just won’t get far.  Great for around town, unrealistic for most people.

That’s where a gas and electric (or Ethanol, Vegetable oil etc.) hybrids come into play – you have that backup power source until energy companies are able to create a lightweight, cheap and battery for long ranges or a plug-in distribution system.  There is no real difference between driving a hybrid and a traditional car save for one thing. When you stop the HEV hybrid for more than a few seconds the engine (the gas part anyway) automatically shuts down. The silence may feel a tad eerie but all you need to do is step on the accelerator and the electric motor will get you moving again until the gas engine decided to kick in. There is no engine start in any conventional sense – it just is not needed.  This saves you tons of gas, eliminating waste from idling.

How Durable are the Best Hybrid Cars?

There is question among the automobile community (those who have yet to step up to hybrid production) and the general public at large and that is the question of durability. There is a taxi driver in Canada that, for the last three years, has been using a Toyota Prius and has logged over 180,000 miles. Imagine the emissions cut down if every taxi in just California and New York were hybrids?  Everyone would be breathing easier.

Those same people who have thought that the hybrid cars weren’t durable are the same that have insisted that replacing the battery after the warranty has expired will cost you several thousand dollars. Toyota, one of the first companies to release an affordable hybrid, says the prices will come down once hybrids become more popular. Current of this writing they cost $4900. The battery, however, contains modules that deplete with use and they can be replaced one at a time for $138.00 each and you have 38 of them in the battery pack. If you wait until your battery is 100% drained it will cost you a lot more money at one time.  If you are concerned about resale value, you might want to be aware of these things.

People buy hybrids for different reasons.  Some take a stance on the environment and pay the premium for a new hybrid.  Others try to make their own cars into hybrids.  Kits are available to convert your car to an electric-gas hybrid, CNG hybrid, diy hydrogen-on-demand hybrids , veggie oil hybrids and more.  To make a choice, you must decide how much you are willing to spend to save (money, gas, the environment...) in the long run.