History Of Hybrid And Electric Vehicles
Invention of wheel is considered to be one of the greatest inventions that have taken the human civilization quite a few steps further in the path of modernisation. Long before, when man first came across with a piece of round shape wooden block then he seldom thought that one day it will become his vehicle of progress and development. That round piece of wood after thousands of years of evolution, improvement and modernisation, took the shape of modern days’ wheel. When James Watt invented the steam engine, then combined with the wheel, it gave the shape of the first car. However, it was only in 1885 that the first four stroke engine car was introduced on the roads by Daimler and within less than hundred years time, the car became the main vehicle for short or long distances. All these cars use fossil fuel and to be precise, petrol and diesel as fuels. These burn internally to produce energy and that keeps it moving. Such a burning process emits carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and so many other not so environment friendly substances and is believed to be polluting Mother Nature and adding to its temperature. In recent time, it is profoundly believed that the other alternatives to car hold the solution to our problem of carbon emission and thereby the alarming issue of global warming.
Car and its importance
Car is considered to be a pretty fast form of vehicle that saves time and is used by millions to reach from one point to another. Such a journey may be associated with spending a holiday, emergencies such as the hospital or nursing home, official or business purpose. It can easily be grasped that if we refuse car as our prime vehicle for day to day life then we might come to a halt or start living in a far slower pace of life, that is, unsuitable to today’s modern world. Furthermore, owing to the years of evolution, modernisation, mass level of production and popularity, use of car has reached such a staggering number that its straight rejection will bring a sudden anarchy and transportation problem that would be hard to solve. Not only one of the most usefull vehicles that offers speed with privacy and suits the need of an individual, car is also associated with prestige and social status which is hard to surrender by many. Car is also unique in terms of its manoeuvre. It can reach some places where it is difficult for any other forms of vehicles. Again it is more flexible, accurate (it can take us to the exact spot) and all these only add to the credit of car as the most important form of vehicle. If we consider the segments of the car ten we can easily find that such segments are a result o fears of research as well as observation. The top segment of car considers prestige and status, the mid segment considers utility, style and sentiment and the lower segment reflects needs of an individual. Particularly after the Japanese manufacturers starting Toyota in the 1960s came into production of cars, the per unit coat of production and the price of car have experienced a sharp decline and that only added to its popularity as a vehicle and further transformed it from rich man’s pride to common man’s utility. In a single sentence, after its invention through the years of evolution, research, modernisation and experiments, car has proved itself more than a vehicle and has become a part and parcel or the work in day to day life. In these circumstances, its replacement is hard to find and will definitely bring several alterations in our daily life.
Electric Car and Hybrid Cars
Looking at the success of hybrid engines in lowering the level of pollution, saving the fossil fuel and decreasing per unit cost of run, they have been introduced in commercial and passenger vehicles as well. General Motors has introduced sych hybrid engines that run through diesel and electricity in its GMC Yukon and Chevrolet has followed suit. Toyota, ford, General Motors are now using hybrid engines for pick trucks and SUVs. Among passenger cars, Toyota Camry hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid are few to name. (Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 2006)
Only battery vehicles are capable of reducing emissions to zero level. However, till now owing to some infra-structural problem, they are not in much use like the others. Battery vehicles often lack the power of a petrol or diesel engine and are subject to recharge in order to make long distances. Both these have gone against their popularity and researches have been going on in order to solve these problems. Perhaps, Plug-in Hybrid Electrical Vehicle holds the key to our future car. In such a car, the engine can be run through electric or gasoline and the battery pack is upgraded to a larger capacity and is rechargeable through an electrical grid or the gasoline engine. (Shabna, 2007, Thomas, 2007)
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