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A Hybrid-Vehicle Technology Primer Bruce Bonebrake reaveals some of the reasons why a hybrid vehicle may be in your future. From "Weekend Mechanic" episode WKM-404

Bruce Bonebrake with Honda technician Randy Jones.

In this special installment of Weekend Mechanic host Bruce Bonebrake visits an auto dealership that offers hybrid vehicles, discusses the history of hybrid technology and considers the possible future of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Honda specialist Jeff Keylon discusses some general concepts behind gasoline-hybrid vehicles and some of the advantages of one popular model--the Honda Civic Hybrid. Also, Honda hybrid technician Randy Jones opens up the Civic's high-voltage battery-pack--something the weekend mechanic should never try himself or herself. Servicing the electric components of a hybrid vehicle should be left to the pros.

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Hybrid History

Technically a hybrid vehicle is any vehicle that utilizes two or more sources of power. By that definition, hybrid technology has been around for decades and is not really all that exotic. A locomotive, for example, uses diesel power along with an electric engine. Even a moped is a form of hybrid since it uses pedal power along with a gasoline engine.

The history of the hybrid car actually dates back to the late 1800s when electricity, as it became more utilized as a source of energy, was employed to power some early vehicles--either as the sole source or in combination with internal combustion.

Some rudimentary electric and hybrid vehicles were built and were actually quite popular, but were eventually supplanted in the market when Henry Ford began mass-producing gas-only powered cars in the early 1900s. Owing largely to Ford's success at turning out large numbers of inexpensive gas-powered cars, electric and hybrid essentially disappeared. And that's the way it remained for a long time.

The Honda Civic Hybrid's gas mileage estimates range from 29 to 37 mpg. Improved gas mileage in hybrids is often realized most noticeably in stop-start in-city driving.

During the oil embargo and gasoline shortages of the 1970s, automakers focused some of their priorities for a while on production of fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles. Foreign auto-makers like Honda, Volkswagen and Toyota, in particular, enjoyed considerable success marketing smaller, gas-efficient cars to energy-conscious American consumers. American manufacturers also began adding economy-oriented smaller sedans and compacts, with higher MPG-ratings, to their lines.

But as gas got cheap and plentiful again, the popularity of bigger vehicles returned, with pickups and SUV's becoming the vehicle of choice for many Americans.

In the 1990s, as fuel prices climbed once again, and concerns over the impact of fossil fuels on the environment began drawing increased attention, US auto makers returned to the drawing board to come up with hybrid cars that would spark the interest of American consumers. Hybrids, and other alternative vehicles, are making a comeback.

Considerable research and development has gone into electric-only powered vehicles, and a number of modern prototypes have been developed, but a continuing drawback in those is the limitation on the distances they can be driven before needing to be recharged. The hybrid vehicle offers one solution.

In 2000, Honda introduced the Insight, the first massed-produced hybrid car to be sold in the US. With a 1.0 liter, 3-cylinder VTEC-e gasoline engine coupled with a permanent magnet electric motor and a 144 volt battery, the 2000 Insight rated up to 70 miles per gallon on the highway. Modern hybrids were off and running.

Sales of hybrids were slow at first, with fewer than 10,000 sold in the year 2000, sales have approximately doubled each year, and current figures are around 100,000 per year. Industry analysts expect annual sales to exceed a million by 2008, and by 2010 about six percent of new cars sold in the US are expected to be hybrids.

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