Here’s what you can find under the hood:

The hybrid car has a petrol engine similar to a normal car. However, the engine size is smaller and it uses advanced technologies to reduce emissions and increase efficiency.

This is the energy store for the petrol engine.

Advanced electronics allow the motor to act as a generator as well. Working as a motor, it can draw energy from the batteries to accelerate the car. As a generator, it can slow the car down and return energy to the batteries.

The energy storage device for the electric motor. Unlike petrol, which can only power the engine, the electric motor on a hybrid car can put energy into the batteries as well as draw energy from them.

There are two types of HEV configurations. One is the parallel or “full hybrid” system and the other is the series configuration or “mild hybrid”. In the parallel system, the fuel tank supplies fuel to the engine and a set of batteries provides power to the electric motor. Both the engine and the electric motor can turn the transmission together or independently, and the transmission, in turn, moves the wheels.

For series-type hybrids, the petrol engine turns a generator, and the generator can either charge the batteries or power an electric motor that drives the transmission. Thus, the engine never directly powers the vehicle. 

Cleaner and greener 

Besides a smaller and more efficient engine, hybrids incorporate other design features to increase fuel efficiency, such as using advanced aerodynamics to reduce drag and not relying on the petrol engine all of the time since it has an alternate power source – the electric motor and batteries.

Hybrid cars use regenerative braking instead of traditional braking methods. When it approaches a red light, it doesn’t create friction and useless heat in order to slow down. Instead it reverses its electric motor turning it into an electric generator, creating electricity which is fed back into a battery and stored for when the light turns green.