They don’t just charge by burning gas. The main time you burn up a lot of fuel is when accelerating from a stop and climbing a hill. That’s when something like a prius will use the electric motor and battery, then just use its gas motor to cruise at a steady speed on a flat roadway. The battery will charge itself when hitting the brake or taking your foot off the accelerator and slowing down or going down a hill.
It’s why the prius is popular. It’s a 75 pound battery but helps provide adequate acceleration and gets 50mpg by having a small and fuel efficient gas engine.
nickhammes@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Power plants are more efficient at getting usable energy than your car’s engine in general. There are some transmission losses, etc that favor the car, but on the balance, for the fossil fuels you burn, you’ll get more car-miles if you burn them in a power plant, than in the car itself. And some of your electricity comes from wind, water, nuclear, and other clean sources, which makes electric cars even bigger winners in terms of using less fossil fuels.
Sure, I’d rather have electrified non-battery public transit than any kind of cars, but EVs are still an improvement over ICEs.
sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I think I didn’t make my point clear. I am of course pro EV cars because of all the benefit you mentioned.
I am questioning the idea of a hybrid car that can only be charged by pumping more petrol. might as well by a normal car and leave the batteries to the true EV car that truly need them
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Don’t forget that you’re toting essentially two cars in a single platform, both gas and ev. The big advantage EVs and hybrids have is regeneration, a good chunk of the energy normally lost as ambient heat in brake pads gets pumped back into the batteries.
But there’s all the added weight and complexity accompanying that. The Prius appears quite reliable, so far. But I’d rather just use my bicycle or motorcycle.
inverted_deflector@startrek.website 1 year ago
Hybrids are still generally more fuel efficient than equivalent non hybrids especially in non highway conditions.