Hybrid Cars cost effective solution Environmentally Friendly

Hybrid cars are becoming more popular as an alternative power source for cars.  They are environmental friendly alternatives that are further given a boost with government perks.

A hybrid does not need to be plugged in to charge the battery.  The battery is charged when you put on the brakes.  The hybrid cars use both gas as well as batteries to work.  The hybrid method is using the best of both the electric powered cars and gas powered cars. 

The gasoline is used to power a small generator; it only has 10 – 20 horsepower and is used when the car is at a continuous driving speed.  When the car accelerates it uses the battery power for this.  When the car decelerates and sits idle the battery is recharging.  The nice part is that the car is constantly recharging from the gas powered generator which will easily allow for long distance travel.

The hybrid cars may catch on for a few good reasons.  One reason is that in some state a single person in a hybrid car can drive in the carpool lane.  The traffic congested commute in California counts, but you need special stickers from the DMV to do this.  This could save you not only of fuel costs, but time in getting back and forth from work.  The California stickers are yellow and go on more than one side of your car to flag the highway patrol to let them know that you are not due for a traffic ticket.

Another reason hybrid cars might be right for you is the potential tax savings that is offered by the government.  It is called the clean-fuel tax deduction it could pay for the extra cost of the car.  Ask your tax person if this is a good strategy and what you need to do to get the tax discount.

The hybrid cars get more miles per gallon than the regular gas powered version of the same car.  An example of this is the Honda Civic Hybrid; it will get 10 – 15 miles more per gallon than the gas version.  The cars have up to 90 percent fewer emissions than a regular gas powered cars.

The downfall to the hybrid car is the initial cost to buy is usually $3,500 to $6,000 more than a regular gas motor vehicle.  Honda Civic, Ford Escape, Toyota Prius, Honda Insight are all available as a hybrid car.  Special hybrid models C15 Silverado and the C15 Sierra are hybrid pickup trucks.  More manufacturers are going to add to the list of hybrids in the next 2 years, including Saturn, Lexus, Nissan, and Dodge.