How Hybrid Cars Work without being Plugged In

It can surprise people how a car technology can go from completely new and unfamiliar to hot stuff in a mere 10 years; but that's exactly what's happened with hybrid cars. This is a technology that's just taken over the car industry really quickly. In fact, it's been so quick that many people are still unfamiliar with how hybrid cars work really. They do get that there is a battery in there that drives the wheels at times. What they don't get is, how a hybrid can have batteries that are charged up enough to actually move the car when the car doesn't get plugged in at all. Add to this the advertising that's surrounded the new plug-in Prius that's planned for next year, and some people feel really lost in the whole hybrid jungle. Let's set the record straight now, over how hybrid cars work.

Right now, in 2011, there are almost no hybrid cars around that you would need to plug into an outlet. The reality may be a bit more complicated than that, but this should be the nice working assumption. A hybrid car, as you probably know, is basically a vehicle that primarily runs on your regular gasoline engine. What makes it more fuel-efficient than the other regular cars is the fact that it also has a large electric motor powered by a large battery pack.

Take a look at your regular car; you notice that that engine RPM meter is always running at about 1,000 RPM even if your car is at a complete standstill. Start moving ever so slowly - at about 10 miles an hour, and your engine is still plodding along at 1,000 RPM. Go at 25 mph, and your engine barely registers any difference - spinning at about 1,200 RPM. One thing’s pretty clear with a regular gasoline engine - when you're moving at low speeds, the speed at which the engine runs pretty much has nothing to do with the speed at which the wheels spin.

The thing is, all gasoline engines need to tick over at a minimum speed to keep from stalling and shutting down altogether. It would be nice if you could use an engine ticking over at 1,000 RPM for moving the vehicle along at the right speed. But when you're stuck in traffic or something, there's pretty much nothing you can do to use all that engine power.

Hybrid car engine designers know that with a regular gasoline engine, it's either "spin at 1,000 RPM or shut down altogether". There's no in-between. They chose to shut it down altogether when you wish to go at slow speeds. They felt that an electric motor would be far better suited to slow speeds. Electric motors don't have to spin at a minimum speed - they can spin as slowly as you want. So they decided to put an electric motor in their cars and install computers in there to judge how fast you want to go and then to let the motor or the gasoline engine take over smoothly from each other. This way, they have two kinds of propulsion systems in one car, each one uniquely suited to a different purpose and speed.

But you're reading this article to find out how hybrid cars work on batteries when you don't need to plug them in. Actually, this is a question that even some hybrid car dealers find a bit confusing. The answer is simple - those batteries get charged the same way the battery in a regular car gets charged - the car’s charging system does the job. When the engine runs, it spins the charger, generates current and charges the batteries.

Why Buy Certified Pre Owned Cars if they are more Expensive?

We certainly live in strange times today. Buying used in some cases today, you could end up paying more for your car than you would if you bought new. You can certainly understand how that might be true for a fuel-efficient car like the Prius that's in short supply in the new car market. But why would a massive SUV like the Audi Q5 or the Toyota Venza cost more on the used market than in new car dealerships? Apparently, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Higher demand for low priced used cars has sent prices up there. And lower demand in the new car market has resulted in lower prices there. Unfortunately, the two markets aren't speaking to each other that they would know anything about what the other was doing. And as for certified pre-owned cars there are some interesting things going on there as well.

There's a lot to recommend certified pre-owned cars. They go through each used car with a tooth comb and give you a great new car-like warranty. If peace of mind is what you are looking for a car purchase, you couldn't do any better.

The warranty does cost money though. Certified pre-owned cars usually end up costing about $2000 more than regular used cars. Add to that and the fact that used cars are more expensive to finance, and most of the time, there is practically no difference between that and buying a new car. If you wanted to buy a certified pre-owned 2009 Toyota Tundra, you would actually pay $3000 more for it than if you went and bought a new car. One reason this upside down situation exists is that the new car comes with a big cash incentive. But if it weren't for that, the used car would still be more expensive.

There are lots of terrible deals on certified pre-owned cars out there today. All of these cars are great value in reliability and quality. They're just not good value for money when you can get a new car for less.

Consider the Toyota Land Cruiser. These aren't in demand these days. However, since they haven’t been selling well for many years now, there aren't that many on the used car market. And that sends prices up -- even if it makes them even less desirable. What really does it for the used Land Cruiser market is that if you bought a new one, it would only cost you only $1000 more than a two-year-old model. Go figure.

You could say this for all kinds of cars. With the quirky Nissan Cube and the tiny Nissan Versa, if you buy this year’s models, they cost exactly the same as the 2009 models. Depending on market forces sometimes….

The myths about Achieving Better Gas Mileage that Hamstring You

Americans really care about the price of their fuel. When the price of gas begins to creep close to four dollars a gallon, the news outlets just can't stop talking about it. And yet, you wouldn't, to look at the way, Americans make use of their gas, think that they cared all that much to understand how gas mileage works and how you squeeze as much out of it as possible.

America is making the transition towards government-mandated 50 mpg automobile technology. If every car in America could boast of those kinds of numbers, we would save ourselves as much oil as we have in the Gulf of Mexico. That's how big a deal high gas mileage is. Let's look at a few areas of misunderstanding that unfortunately hold Americans back from achieving the kind of gas mileage they could have.

Let's start with an all-time favorite - letting the engine idle at a stop signal instead of turning it off. Some people will actually leave their engine running for 15 min. rather than turn it off because they believe that turning it off and starting it again will use up more gas. Unless you're stuck in a traffic jam that isn't about to start moving again, unless you need the air conditioner working, turning off the engine would make for a very smart move. An idling engine works at nearly half the speed it would if it were drive the car at a steady speed. Idling uses up a half gallon of fuel every hour. There is no way that stopping and starting an engine can use more than that.

People believe that as a car grows older, that its fuel economy becomes worse and worse. Once they believe this, they set themselves up to expect less of their car. And this makes them grow careless with their driving habits. A car that's maintained properly will easily maintain like-new gas mileage. And for this, you don't need to constantly keep replacing your air filter or warm your engine up every morning. A clean air filter does nothing for you in a modern car with fuel injection.

People believe that using premium fuel can improve your gas mileage. They also believe that on top of using premium fuel, that there are certain miracle additives on the market that can give them dramatically improved efficiency. Both assumptions are wrong. Using fuel that's better specified than what your car manual asks for is just money down the drain. And the same goes for additives. Consumer Reports and the FTC have completely checked every popular additive out there and determined that they do absolutely nothing for your fuel efficiency. In some cases, they do help your car engine run smoother. But that's about it.