Editing Main Page

'''''NAFA's Guide to Hybrid Vehicles'''''
This is the current working draft of NAFA's new book on hybrid vehicles.  All changes and additions must be made before August 1, 2007, when this forum will be closed and the draft will be sent to the editorial committee.  Please log in to contribute or create a user name for yourself by clicking the link in the upper-right of this page.  
 
[http://www.nafa.org/books Back to NAFA books.]

[http://www.nafa.org Back to NAFA mainpage.]


== Introduction ==
A '''hybrid vehicle''' uses  a combination of drive/propulsion systems to provide motive power.  The most common hybrid vehicle is the '''gasoline-electric hybrid''' passenger car. The gasoline-electric hybrid uses gasoline (petrol) and electric battery|electric batteries or ultra capacitors to power [[internal-combustion engine]]s (ICEs) and [[electric motor]]s.  Modern [[mass production|mass-produced]] hybrids, such as the [[Toyota Prius]], recharge their batteries, in part, by capturing [[kinetic energy]] via [[regenerative braking]].  As well, when cruising or idling, some of the output of the combustion engine is fed to a generator (merely the electric motor(s) running in generator mode{{ref|motor}}) which produces electricity to charge the batteries.  This contrasts with all-[[Battery electric vehicle|electric car]]s which use batteries charged by an external source such as the grid, or a [[Genset trailer|range extending trailer]].  Nearly all hybrids still require gasoline as their sole [[fuel]] source