Hybrids are selling well in the USA – and doing decently in other countries, including China. Unlike the USA, China considers (Plug-in) Hybrid Cars “New Energy Vehicles” to be classified alongside Battery Electric Vehicles. This is as it should be since good Hybrid engines use “electrification” to stretch a gallon of gas.
A more Technical Explanation of a Toyota Hybrid is as follows. Regular ICE (internal combustion engines) have improved – older engines were less than 20% thermal efficiency (efficiency of the engine itself) while newest tech can exceed 40%. The problems start when we put that engine inside a vehicle which needs to operate at many speeds and situations. Heat, the enemy of efficiency in this case, is radiated from the Engine and transmission no matter what speed you are going – and even when you are stopped at a traffic light.
A Hybrid is different. It uses a combination of:
Battery
Electric Motors
Generators/Brakes
ICE Engine
Electronics
to put power to whatever part of the drivetrain needs it – in an efficient manner! When the car is coasting or when you are braking, the generators automatically pick up the extra power (that would be wasted as heat in a gas car) and send it back to the battery. Hybrid owners usually notice that their car will use only electric motors to accellerate from a complete stop. This is an example of the system running on only the electric from the battery.
A Hybrid will create vastly less pollution than even the cleanest of modern ICE cars or trucks – due to a combination of factors. The engine runs less and it is rarely under strain. Strain causes more pollution & fewer MPG. All modern motor vehicles are relatively clean – 40 to 50X as clean as the cars before pollution controls. A Hybrid is even cleaner – up to 200X cleaner than the vehicles many of us grew up with.
A fully electric car (EV or BEV) is, of course, cleaner than a hybrid in terms of the car itself. An EV has very few emissions -just tire particulates and kicking up road dust- from the car itself. However, pollution is formed from the burning of (mostly) Natural Gas to generate the electricity to charge it. Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear generate 70% of Electric in the USA, so until we have more renewable electric, no car is going to be non-polluting.
The path to the future is always taken in steps – and a good high MPG Hybrid can be a major contributor to doing our part.