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As people become more aware of environmental issues and conscious of their actions, demand for hybrid cars, to buy and rent, has risen.

A hybrid car is a car which can run on two or more fuel sources – most commonly an engine and an electric motor powered by batteries. The motor and batteries help the engine work more efficiently which means you spend less on fuel and emit fewer emissions.

The Toyota Prius is probably the most well known hybrid car. It first went on sale in 1997 and since then, more than 10,000 Prius’ have been sold in Australia. The Australian Government’s Green Vehicle Guide website rates all new vehicles based on greenhouse and air pollution emissions and fuel consumption. The Prius is currently the top performer in all 3 with a fuel consumption of 4.4L per 100kms.

To give you an idea of what this means – a Hummer H3 Adventure has a fuel consumption level of 13.2L/100km, Toyota Rav 4′s fuel consumption is 9.6L, a Mercedes Benz C Class C180K is 7.6L and a Honda Civic 1.8L sedan has a fuel consumption of 7.2L. According to Toyota, a Prius has up to 50% less consumption than a comparably-sized family car and that one tank of fuel could theoretically get you over a whopping 1000km!

While hybrid cars are still quite expensive to buy – a Toyota Prius 1.5L petrol/Electric combination CVT will set you back ,400 (from www.toyota.com.au), renting one may be within your budget.

DriveAway currently have Hybrids available to rent in France and the USA, but with car rental suppliers adding more ‘green’ cars to their fleets, this is sure to grow over the next few years.

Renting a hybrid does cost more than renting a similar sized non-hybrid car (due to supply and demand and the fact that hybrids are more expensive for the rental company to buy), but you will save money on fuel and of course, it’s better for the environment. Click here for more details.

From the first moment you step into a hybrid car, you will notice that a multitude of things are vastly different than your conventional vehicle. Turn the ignition key, and you will notice just how quiet these things are. For example, if you happen to be sitting in a Toyata Prius the car’s electric generator will quietly fire up the conventional internal combustion engine, or “ICE”. As the ICE comes up to operating temperature it will automatically be shut off, which brings the car’s electric motor completely online. The gasoline engine will remain in a dormant state until it is further needed.
The Toyata Prius will remain completely in electric mode as long as speeds fall under the 15 M.P.H. limit. As long as you don’t exceed that speed, you are driving an entirely electric powered vehicle which is using absolutely no gasoline, nor releasing any harmful emissions from its exhaust system. Obviously, if you drive a bit more aggressively, or exceed 15 M.P.H. the ICE will again come online to produce the necessary, additional power required. A computer is constantly calculating the power requirements and sending this data to a device called a power split, which connects the electric and gasoline engines through a series of gears.

Things work slightly differently if you happen to be in a Honda Insight. The gasoline engines in these vehicles remain online from first start until they reach operating temperature, and come to a first stop. The ICE will become completely dormant at that point. As soon as you remove your foot from the brake pedal, shift into gear, or depress the accelerator the combustion will again come online to provide additional power as required. The variety of available transmissions in the Honda line of vehicles has made it necessary to utilize a bit more elaborate system of engaging and disengaging the electric motors.
The dash panel will keep you constantly informed of the amount of electrical assist that is being provided. All the while a computer is in the background calculating how much power is required, and allowing the electrical assist to occur. This type of system allows for near conventional car performance, while achieving much greater fuel economy.

The nickel metal hybrid battery systems in these vehicles are quite fascinating. Again, a computer is constantly making calculations, sending power from the batteries to the electric motors when required. When the vehicle is in braking mode the electric motor begins to act as a generator, supplying the batteries with their needed charge. The computer is constantly monitoring the amount of charge in the batteries and maintaining a 30% – 80% charge at all times. These minimum and maximum levels are what allow these batteries to last in excess of 200,000 miles. That’s a quite impressive lifecycle for battery technology, and a great thing as hybrid car batteries are quite expensive.

While this is a very simplistic overview of a very complex system, it does give you a basic understanding of the inner workings of the hybrid cars of today, and will hopefully be of assistance as you continue your quest of buying a hybrid car.

With the popularity that hybrid vehicles are enjoying in the media and with all the attention they have been getting from environmentalist groups and advocates, one wonders how sales of these hybrid cars are going. Let us look at some secondary data provided to get a glimpse at just how marketable these hybrid cars are.

As of the first quarter of 2007, data from Forbes show that in the US alone, hybrids garnered a combined sale of more than 17,000 units, a remarkable 10% increase from the same period in 2006. The demand is definitely rising, and this demand is translating into actual sales. Sale of hybrid vehicles vis-à-vis the total number of light-duty vehicles sold also increased by as much as 1.4% compared to previous year levels. This only means more and more buyers prefer hybrids to conventional-fuel models.

Why the Rush to the Hybrid Section?

As fuel prices soar, more and more car buyers are prompted to go for hybrid cars. Since 2003, hybrid car-makers have been raking in profits from hybrid car sales. In 2004 in the US alone, hybrid car sales were almost 88,000 units. And with the increasing awareness about climate change and global warming, hybrid car sales are yet again expected to surge.

With great expectations for hybrid car sales to reach record highs in 2007, carmakers are rushing to put into the market new models, packed with all the environmental protection and fuel efficiency features that they could muster, not to mention the technological come-ons. New models are also widening the array of offerings, from compact to mid-sized sedans, to SUVs and minivans, even to pickups and trucks.

Car buyers can afford to be choosy with the broad range of hybrid units being offered in the market today. Moreover, fuel-efficiency and environmental friendliness features of these hybrids are reaching new heights, captivating a new kind of socially conscious and responsible breed of buyers.

Prices are reasonable enough to guarantee a following. Moreover, tax incentives and breaks are given to buyers of these eco-friendly hybrid units. Doing the math, the hybrid buyer is aware that he can easily recoup the few thousand dollars difference of a hybrid model over that of a conventional one, through reduced fuel consumption.

And these hybrids come safe for the buyer and his family, too. In addition to fuel efficiency, hybrid safety features are bringing in more buyers. Open the windows and the low emissions of your hybrid ensure that your kids are breathing fresher and cleaner air inside and outside the hybrid van. Navigation and stability systems for the hybrids are also a notch higher, adding to the safety factor more. A hybrid car buyer is assured of efficiency not only fuel-wise, but overall car performance-wise.

As buyers become more fuel-price conscious and more aware of climate change and the effects of greenhouse gases; as they realize that safety is paramount, and begin to expect comfort and enjoyment from riding safe and eco-friendly vehicles, hybrid car sales will continue to rise. Car makers are thus capitalizing on this trend and are coming up with one innovative hybrid model after another. Every car dealer will surely have one hybrid in his stable.