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Plugin Hybrid Car
The early hybrid cars were purposely done so that they did not have a plugin feature, to distinguish them from pure electric cars, which have been associated with severe limitations for drivers in the past. This is why the batteries in most of 2008 and earlier gasoline-electric hybrid cars were recharged by an engine-driven generator. In addition, these hybrid electric vehicles can use the car's own kinetic energy by using the energy from braking to engage the generator. When the plugin feature is introduced to a hybrid car, the system is still pretty much the same as with non-plugin hybrids, with one major difference: the batteries are bigger. It is possible to convert existing hybrids to plugin mode, with the help of such organizations as The California Cars Initiative and EnergyCS that mostly use the lighter Lithium-ion batteries or NiMH batteries. Because of the bigger batteries and ability to plug in and recharge the batteries from the grid, the idea is to use less fuel when moving the car and, in fact, maximize the all-electric (non gasoline using) mode as far as possible. In terms of comparing these two sources of powering the car, some analysts are putting the price of using gasoline to power the hybrid instead of using the electricity grid powered batteries at three times the cost, as of mid 2008. There are several plug in hybrid cars coming to the market during the 2010 model year for example. Perhaps the most anticipated of the upcoming models is the Chevy Volt, which aims to be the first model to sell plug in hybrids in mass market numbers.
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