Hybrid vehicles and its value

Dr Nuraj I. Rajapakse

Hybid vehicles benefit not only the consumers, but the entire society, nation, and the mankind.

Motor vehicles are a core aspect of our modern life and economy, unfortunately they pollute the air, soil and water. It is one of the main courses in warming the earth’s climate. In response, some car companies have introduced the biggest change in automotive technology since early in the last century.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) reduce emissions and fuel use through increased fuel economy. So far, full-HEV technology has been used to reduce automotive fuel use by 40% and reduce emissions to meet most stringent air quality standards.

Americans are currently buying over 20,000 HEVs per month. The Toyota Prius has reached sales volumes of over 1M units per year. In the California market, hybrids account for 3% of the total new light-duty vehicle sales.

However, total HEV sales are still small in comparison to annual sales of all vehicles and the total number of vehicles on the road. HEVs account for about 1.5% of the annual US market of 17 million new light-duty vehicles, and only 0.2% of the total US fleet of 230 million light-duty vehicles.

The numbers of makes and models offered as HEVs are small and sales are just beginning. To spread hybrid technologies across the entire market, and to replace most vehicles on the road, would take decades.

HEVs are making an impact beyond their incipient number, by being the first ‘green’ cars in the market and setting a standard of achievement for high fuel economy and low emissions. HEV sales and their effect on Toyota and Honda have spurred a competition between automobile makers to supply the latest high-tech, clean, and green technologies. We must analyze what differences HEVs are making and could make in future for the air, water, security and climate.

Action to promote Hybrids

* Hybrid vehicles power, is supplied by a combination of gasoline and electricity, a gas mileage that is often 40% better than comparable conventionally powered vehicles.

* Since less gasoline is required to drive a distance, the hybrids reduce the reliance on imported crude oil that will save foreign exchange.

* Decreasing our dependence on energy supplies would help to make our nation more secure as Sri Lankan economy is less vulnerable to fluctuations in the world oil market.

* Hybrids could reduce tailpipe emissions by 90% and the greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions by 50%.

* The use of cleaner hybrid cars has a less impact on the environment, reduced roadside emissions and could help meet ozone standards in a less manner.

* As the number of automobiles is increasing, the world has a threat of toxic pollution and global warming due to their exhaust ingredients that will tremendously increase the percentage of citizens health hazards and high expenditure on hospitalization.

* Regulation and dependence on emissions control equipment can be greatly reduced since decreasing fuel consumption is one of the practicle ways to reduce emissions. The widespread use of this ‘green’ vehicles could lessen the need for additional environmental regulations in all areas.

* Hybrids are part of a solution to Sri Lankan energy woes that include increased development of domestic resources, diversification of resources, additional conservation measures, and research and development.

* Noise pollution is less since hybrid cars are much silent than gasoline-powered vehicles as they are idling or on electric mode.

Hot news on hybrids

* Americans currently buy over 20,000 Hybrids per month.

* USA estimated that hybrids had saved 498 million gallons of petrol in 2010.

* USA estimated that the reduction of CO2 was 5.1 million metric tonnes in 2010.

* The hybrid sales could roughly be 2 million units in 2015 in USA.

* It is projected to be 85% market penetration by 2030 in USA.

* Hybrid vehicles reduce fuel use by 20-40% compared to their conventional counterparts, with an average reduction of 35%.

* On an average, hybrids reduce lifecycle emissions of greenhouse-gases (GHGs) by around 30% and similar reduction in the use of oil.

Government should

* Tax credits and incentives be provided to keep the price of hybrid affordable.

* Joining hands with vehicle importers and car industries to develop more sustainable vehicles in an attempt to boost energy conservation.

* Promoting hybrids in many different ways with a view of protecting the environment from less damage by automobiles to keep the future generation free of health hazards.

Cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines burn gasoline or diesel, creating new poisonous compounds that are pumped into the air including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (now classified as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs), and particulates. These compounds are toxic.

Further, NOx and VOCs combine with sunlight to create a complex chemical stew whose primary component is an even more insidious pollutant-ground-level ozone. Ground-level ozone is a powerful respiratory irritant that causes breathing problems, worsens respiratory illnesses such as asthma, and even premature deaths. Ground level ozone and other pollutants concentrate populated cities, such as Los Angeles where local climate and topography combine with high levels of emissions to create a substantial amounts of ground-level ozone.

In addition, making motor vehicles less polluting does not solve the other problems that come with a transportation system that is 97% dependent on fuels derived from crude oil. Oil consumption continues to create problems throughout the world. Oil is a finite resource and many have predicted that we are reaching what is called peak oil the point at which the rate of extraction of oil from all developable oil resources and reserves begin to slow.

Once we reach peak oil, we will become increasingly reliant on supplies that are difficult to extract and process. These supplies include oil in deep-sea deposits, heavy oils, and tar sands. Ominously, because more energy is required to locate, extract, and refine these supplies, the production process is more expensive and generally more polluting than that of conventional petroleum.

Compounding the peak oil problem is the rapid growth of countries like India and China, which have small domestic oil resources, a large population, and fast-growing economies.

Global demand for gasoline and diesel is increasing, while cheap sources of oil is disappearing. The biggest oil producers in the world (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Nigeria) are rife with corruption fuelled by oil revenues.

The combustion of gasoline and diesel generates greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 levels, due to a broad set of human industrial and agricultural activities, has increased sharply in the last 200 years. Primarily it is the combustion of coal, oil, and other carbon-based energy sources that has lead to this increase.

But CO2 is an unavoidable output of burning carbon-containing fuel, all hydrocarbons such as coal, oil, and natural gas, in an oxygen atmosphere.

Unlike other emissions, CO2 cannot be easily eliminated from vehicle exhaust. The only way to reduce CO2 in most cases is to stop or reduce the combustion of gasoline and diesel, switch to noncarbon based fuels or greatly increase the efficiency use the energy from such combustion processes, or drive less.

Continued growth is in demand for motor vehicle use and ownership in the US and Europe.

There are no nations in the world who decide to forgo automobility. The number of vehicles and gallons of gasoline used per person in places like Eastern Europe, China and India are still small, in comparison to the US, Europe and Asia, the rate of growth of automobiles in some of these nations are high. China, for example, had just 4 million automobiles in 1996, but is expected to be 43 million on its roads by 2020. As motor vehicles are becoming more popular across the globe, advancement in fuel efficiency and pollution control may not be enough to stem up oil use and emissions.

However, in some countries with rapid automobile adoption, HEVs can become a higher percentage of the vehicle fleet much faster than in US, Europe, and Japan, which has a large fleet of motor vehicles.

Hybrid technology

Hybrid is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to propel the vehicle. Current HEVs combine internal combustion, engines running on gasoline or diesel, with electric motors that use electricity stored in batteries.

The hybrid designs increase efficiency. This is done primarily in two ways, first, by recapturing some of the energy that is normally lost in braking or coasting through regenerative braking. Secondly by downsizing the combustion engine and running it on an optimal efficiency range and obtaining additional power from an electric motor. Future designs may use biofuels such as ethanol in the combustion engine, or may replace the internal combustion engine with a cleaner, more efficient fuel cell power plant and a larger electric motor.

Hybrid technology is not new to transportation. Most diesel locomotives use combustion engines to charge large batteries, which then supply electricity to electric motors that actually propel the train.

In a limited way, you could call all conventional vehicles HEVs, because they use alternators and batteries to generate and store electricity for starting the vehicle and operating accessories like the radio, lights, and cooling fans.

Modern hybrid technologies for light-duty vehicles take things as far as shutting down the combustion engine when it is not needed and using electricity to propel the vehicle on the road. The main goal of this modern hybrid technology has been attaining higher fuel economy (kilometres per gallon), but also the increased efficiency (more energy out of the drive-shaft per unit into the system).

Depending on their design, hybrid electric vehicles employ motors solely to assist the gasoline motor during brief periods, such as acceleration, or larger electric motors to power the vehicle. The difference between combustion engines and electric motors is that combustion engines operate most powerfully at fairly high speeds of rotation (depending on design) a narrow range measured in thousands of revolutions per minutes.

Electric engines provide maximum torque (force) from zero rpm. In a hybrid vehicle, designers try to match the best of both worlds; they use the electric portion of the system to keep the gasoline engine spinning near its optimal speed.

Most designs use the gas engine and electric motor together during periods higher energy is needed as a prompt acceleration. During times of lesser power needs, lower speed cruising, the vehicle relies solely on the engine or motor, depending on the state of the battery and the size of the electric motor and battery. One of the biggest benefits of HEVs is the ability to recapture energy lost in braking and coasting downhill.

In a conventional vehicle, when you apply the brakes, the energy of the vehicle is converted into heat and the brakes dissipate into the air. HEVs is able to use their electric motors to generate electricity that can be stored during braking or coasting downhill. This generation exerts drag brakes. Hybrid vehicles have conventional brakes, but the computer uses them only when the battery is full or braking action is at strongest, as they are used less often as the mechanical brakes on a HEV last longer.

The market right has three main architectures, referred to as ‘light,’ ‘mild,’ and ‘full’. It replaces the normal flywheel of a gasoline engine with an ‘integrated starter generator’ that shuts the engine off whenever the vehicle is not moving, improving fuel economy by a few percent. The Honda Civic Hybrid is a ‘mild’ hybrid that uses regenerative braking and the electric motor assist during acceleration and does not allow driving only with the electric motor. The Toyota Prius is a ‘full’ hybrid, meaning the battery and motor is large enough to allow some ‘electric-during’ driving, however this design is not sufficient for all acceleration needs.

Within the three main HEVs architectures there are many possible variants that serve different goals. Even ‘performance’ HEVs, like the Honda Accord, focus much on increasing the power of the car instead of its fuel economy.

The early mild hybrid designed from Honda and full hybrid designed from Toyota focused more on fuel economy and low emissions. The Toyota Highlander Hybrid represents a blend of performance and fuel economy, offering improvement in the non-hybrid versions.

Depending whether a car company is in the making of mild, or full hybrid, the cost of the added components can vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The actual costs is a company’s secret, but the price of hybrid cars varies from manufacturer to manufacturer depending on the vehicle architecture and the number of added components. The price range of Toyota, Prius in US is in the range $22,000 to $24,270.