A hybrid vehicle uses both an electric battery and a gas powered engine.
The fact that the vehicle is also powered by a combustion engine permits the use of a smaller battery than that found in a fully electric vehicle.
What Size Battery Is Found In A Hybrid Car?
A hybrid car has a battery that combines the technology of traditional cars and newer electrical technology.
It uses this 12-volt lead acid battery and gasoline from the internal combustion engine to power your vehicle.
Not only that but a hybrid car flips easily and seamlessly between the two power sources during normal operation.
As a result, the driver won’t even notice the change while they are driving, thus resulting in a smooth performance and driving experience.
The battery, which runs on electricity, is charged through a process referred to as regenerative braking, and by the internal combustion engine.
In regenerative braking, energy is produced when the driver adds pressure to the brakes. This then causes electricity to be generated from the rotating wheels, which is subsequently transferred to the battery pack.
Flipping between gas power and electricity is the key to making the hybrids so efficient when it comes to energy.
These vehicles are powered by gas for less of the time, making them around 20 to 35% more fuel efficient compared to traditional completely gas powered cars.
When it comes to hybrid vehicles, they use the power of two different kinds of engines. A hybrid car will have a gas powered engine and an electrical battery.
The driver can flip between the two engines, depending on their driving style, when they like.
These two power sources form a rechargeable battery, which then powers the car.
Hybrid cars are the best alternative to cars that just have an internal combustion engine.
These vehicles typically run mainly off electricity, and can produce maximum power when accelerating from a stopping position.
However, a battery-only vehicle is limited on how far you can travel in them. Usually, you can only travel between 70 and 250 miles in an electric car.
Therefore, they aren’t ideal when traveling longer distances.
However, when an electric vehicle is combined with a gas powered engine, then the vehicle becomes much more functional for a wider range of people.
Especially for someone who wants to take their hybrid with them on holiday, and the journey is quite far away by car.
With a hybrid, manufacturers installed a highly efficient but small gas motor to help supplement the power from the electric battery.
An internal combustion engine is also found, but should only be used as a backup energy source.
Thus, a hybrid car gives you the best of both worlds, when it comes to power, engine, and distances.
How Does A Hybrid Battery Work?
Usually, a hybrid battery will consist of two electrodes that are sitting in an electrolyte solution.
These two electrodes are then distanced from each other due to a polymer film that stops the electrode from short-circuiting at any time.
Then when the hybrid car is switched, the gap between these two electrodes are then bridged.
In addition to this, it is important to note that in a hybrid car, a battery pack is used and there are various cells that all work together harmoniously to produce a large enough charge to be able to power the car easily.
Thus, in each cell of the battery pack, there is both a positive and negative electrode.
The ions that have been charged by the positive electrode move towards the negative electrode.
Hybrids may sound amazing, but they aren’t without their disadvantages as well.
The main disadvantage of hybrid batteries is the fact that they have a really limited life span.
Research has shown that the majority of hybrid batteries have a 100,000 mile or 8-year warranty. Yet, the majority of the batteries will start to fail before this time.
A hybrid car cannot run without a hybrid battery.
However, purchasing a new hybrid battery is quite expensive, and if you need to do this frequently, then the maintenance of a hybrid car becomes quite expensive as well.
With that being said, manufacturers are constantly developing and evolving their technology.
A lot more modern hybrid batteries are starting to become a lot more durable and reliant.
In addition to that, more third parties are entering the hybrid battery world and giving drivers more options when it comes to replacing their old hybrid batteries.
Third party batteries are usually much more affordable than batteries that come from the dealership.
Conclusion
Typically, you will find a 12 volt battery in your hybrid car. This battery runs off electrical energy, to help provide your car power.
However, in a hybrid car, there is also the option to switch between electrical energy and gas power.
A hybrid car cannot work without a hybrid battery, but due to their limited service life, they can be quite expensive to replace, which is why more drivers are looking toward third parties when it comes to replacing their hybrid batteries.
We hope you have found this article insightful.
Now you should have a better understanding of hybrid batteries and the size of battery you will find in your hybrid electric vehicle.
Jonathan Rice is a writer with a degree in Applied Physics (UCL, 1998) who suffers from an obsession with green technologies and sustainable mobility.
He made this website to help answer people’s questions about new technologies, green vehicles, and as the title suggests, really anything to do with zero emission vehicles.
