Hybrid cars, or hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are designed to utilise multiple means of power – currently the main hybrid cars you see on the market have combinations of petrol or diesel engines with an electric motor.
The main advantages towards owning a hybrid vehicle are that they don’t use as much fuel and they emit less CO2 than most conventional non-hybrid vehicles.
As of a result of this, hybrid vehicle owners get rewarded in the form of lower tax rates and free congestion charge passes.
So how do they work?
Plug-in hybrids, as you’d expect, need to be plugged in to an electric charge point to recharge their batteries but are also able to charge on the move. Essentially they are the middle ground between conventional hybrids and full electric vehicles. Despite having a conventional hybrid engine, they have larger batteries than normal which means they can go for longer distances on just electric power.
With conventional hybrid engines then, both power sources can propel the car individually or they can work in conjunction with one another. When the car’s travelling at lower speeds the engine only uses the electric motor but when more acceleration is required both will work together. In the middle of these stages the excess power produced by the engine is sent directly to the batteries in the electric motor for recharging.
Conventional hybrids have proven to be the most popular out of the hybrid engines due to the fact you don’t have to find a charge point or have one installed at your home or office.
Due to the success of hybrid technology, more and more manufacturers are rolling out hybrid vehicles. Volvo for example have announced a huge push towards electrifying their entire range into hybrid and fully electric vehicles over the forthcoming years. With hybrid cars already on sale such as the V60 Plug-in Hybrid, XC60 T8 Plug-in Hybrid and the XC90 Plug-in Hybrid, Volvo are looking to expand an already well established HEV portfolio.
Going Hybrid with Volvo
Have you ever pictured driving to work without burning a single drop of fuel? Well, this is now possible with Volvo’s V60 D6 Twin Engine boasting a range of 31 miles on just electric power. The V60’s bigger brother, the XC90 T8 Twin Engine AWD, will also let you travel an impressive 27 miles whilst in ‘pure-mode’ (electric-only). Already starting to think about the infamous range anxiety? One thing to remember when driving a Volvo hybrid is that you will always have the fuel engine there to provide assistance if needed - so range anxiety is cancelled out!
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