Winston-Salem Business Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 28) Add a hybrid to your fleet PHOTO COURTESY OF TOYOTA CORP. Cut Your Businesses Gas Bill better mileage. Hybrids are becoming increasingly popular as people feel the bite at the pump, especially since the hybrids average 45 - 50 miles or more per gallon. The auto industry is hard at work developing the technology that allows vehicles to go further on less gas, but without compromising on the luxury and safety that most gas vehicles offer. Technology has forged ahead in hybrid design and functionality, making these cars very appealing to the average car owner. What is a hybrid and how does it travel almost three to four times the distance the average gas vehicle does on the same amount of gas? Most hybrid cars on the road right now are gasoline-electric hybrids. The gasolineelectric hybrid car is just what it sounds like — a cross between a gasoline-powered car and an electric car. A gas-powered car has a fuel tank, which supplies gasoline to the engine. The engine then turns a transmission, which turns the wheels. An electric car, on the other hand, has a set of batteries that provides electricity to an electric motor. The motor turns a transmission and the transmission turns the wheels. The hybrid is a compromise. It attempts to significantly increase the mileage and reduce the emissions of a gaspowered car while overcoming the shortcomings of an electric car. To be useful to you or me, a car must meet certain minimum requirements. The car should be able to: · Drive at least 300 miles (482 km) between refueling · Be refueled quickly and easily · Keep up with the other traffic on the road A gasoline-powered car meets these requirements but produces a relatively large amount of pollution and generally gets poor gas mileage. An electric car, however, produces almost no pollution, but it can only go 50 to 100 miles (80 to 161 km) between charges. And the problem has been that the electric car is very slow and inconvenient to recharge. A gasoline-electric car combines these two A s you watch the gas pump clicking past $20, $30, $40 or even $50, you might start thinking about trading your vehicle in for something that gets 28 OCTOBER 2007
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