CALIFORNIA HYBRID CARS

The History of the Hybrid Car: An Evolution for the Future

Due to the demand of having a vehicle wherein everyone can consume less fuel and will not contribute to the air pollution, the hybrid automobile was finally created to meet this end. And due to the rapid advancements in the gasoline engine, the hybrid car has become extremely popular.

A hybrid vehicle is a means of transportation using two power sources; it uses a rechargeable energy storage system found on board and a fueled power source as the vehicle's driving force. The hybrid automobile pollutes less and uses less fuel.

Back in 1899, Ferdinand Porsche developed and led the way to the very first working hybrid-electric vehicle. Other people followed suit in Ferdinand Porsche's invention. Many people who became interested in the hybrid-vehicle concept have been continually making hybrid automobiles. However, there was no major automobile manufacturer who invested in the hybrid concept and mass produced hybrid automobiles until the late twentieth century. The hybrid technology was mainly utilized in developing diesel-electric submarines during that interim period.

The diesel-electric submarines mainly operate very much the same as a hybrid automobile. However, the submarines main goal was to conserve oxygen rather than spend less fuel. During the later years, submarines have evolved and have begun using the nuclear power as a substitute for diesel.

During the 1990's, the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were the first successful hybrid cars available in the market. It was two of the pioneers in the hybrid vehicle concept which virtually changed the way the world considers cars.

An idealistic inventor, Victor Wouk, manufactured a hybrid electric and gas motor car that siphoned fuel at half the amount as practically all the other cars being built then. He built the hybrid automobile thirty years before the Toyota Prius got the attention of the U.S. as an energy-anxious nation.

The account about the hybrid vehicle and its inventor, who died in May, 2005, at age 86, is unfamiliar among even the most avid fans of the growing hybrid vehicle association. In terms of hybrid automobile knowledge, it is in fact America that should have led all other countries. Wouk stated that the government program that he developed about hybrids was unknown to everyone.

Victor Wouk founded and sold two successful electric industrialized companies in the late 1940s and 50s and in 1962 he was approach by Russell Feldman, one of the founders of Motorola, who recognized the pollution from the car as one of the biggest problem of the environment and he wanted to discover the possible solutions with regards to this problem. But his experiment did not work much for the possible solution.

Having an idea, Wouk pondered the problem throughout the 60s and ultimately reached a clever solution. He combined the low-emission benefits of an electric vehicle with the power of a gasoline engine to produce a hybrid automobile. But Wouk didn't get any response to his ideas for creating a hybrid car; in fact he was heavily criticized for not believing in a full-electric system.

With the help of his colleague, Charlie Rosen, who shared his belief about hybrid cars, gave him the opportunity to prove his ideas of creating the hybrid automobile as one of the solution to the rapid health cost of auto-pollution. And now the impressive capabilities of the invention of Wouk, the hybrid cars, can now be a very great help in terms of less fuel consumption and less air pollution.

Wouk and Rosen put up a new company particularly to developed their hybrid automobile idea and make it possible to be in the market and be used as an everyday car that belched far less harmful vapors than contemporary automobiles.

The Prius

Ever since the Toyota Prius was released in the market, it has been able to remain as the premier choice of hybrid automobiles available. It is true that old hybrid vehicles looks more like an alien vehicle and cost far more than the conventional car. However, because of the latest technology installed in newer versions of hybrid vehicles, it looks more like a conventional vehicle and is far cheaper than its predecessors. It is a fact that hybrid vehicles this day looks very much like conventional vehicles. However, it will enable you to cut fuel consumption in half.

For example, the Honda Civic Hybrid vehicle looks very much like its conventional version. However, when you look at it closely, the hybrid version of the Civic is able to conserve fuel much superior than its gasoline counterpart. The Civic Hybrid can get you 50 miles in just one gallon of gasoline.

During the year 2004, Ford has developed and introduced the very first hybrid SUV, which is the Ford Escape Hybrid. A year later, Toyota also introduced their line of hybrid SUV called the Highlander Hybrid.

Because of the growing demand for hybrid vehicles, other automobile manufacturers are now following the footsteps of the other companies who already released a version of their hybrid automobile in the market. For example, Nissan is now planning to develop and introduce a hybrid version of the Nissan Altima.

Nowadays, over 300,000 hybrid cars are running on American roads wherein 95 percent of them are Japanese made. The hybrid automobiles are truly very different technology that can both save money and our environment.

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