International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 28 Number 2 - October 2015
A Perspective on Hybrid Cars and Factors Affecting Their
Demand in Present Market
1
Prashant Bidhuri
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Chandigarh Group of Colleges
Mohali, India
Abstract—Hybrid cars are becoming increasingly
popular due to the cost of gasoline going up and the
move to save the environment. Hybrid cars are being
built to look like gas fueled cars. Conventional
vehicles use gasoline or diesel to power an internal
combustion engine. Hybrids also use an internal
combustion engine—and can be fueled like normal
cars—but have an electric motor and battery, and can
be partially or wholly powered by electricity. Hybrid
cars can be configured to obtain different objectives,
such as improved fuel economy, increased power, or
additional auxiliary power for electronic devices and
power tools. Many technologies like regenerative
braking, electric motor drive, automatic start or
shutoff are being used in hybrid cars to make them as
good as conventional vehicles.
population increase, expansion in international trade
and economic development, the demand for heavy and
light duty vehicles is on the rise. With close to 600
million vehicles on road today, over the next forty
years, 800 million more people are expected to own
cars around the world. In 2002, light-duty vehicles
alone accounted for 23% of the total 77 million barrels
of oil consumed per day in the world, and is expected
to go as high as 32 million barrels per day by 2030 [6],
making them one of the major users of energy.
Owing to its adverse impact on the global economy
and environment, and the possibility of complete
exhaustion of reserves, use of petroleum based
vehicles is raising concern and is driving the research
and industry sectors to look for alternative solutions.
Keywords — combustion engine, battery, fuel
economy, regenerative braking
I. INTRODUCTION
Hybrid vehicles have started making their mark in
the automobile industry having appeared on the
market in 1997 only to minimise CO2 emissions. With
increasing awareness towards economic and
environmental concerns associated with fuel
combustion in automobiles, the world is focusing
towards the development of sustainable technologies.
The transportation sector is one of the highest
consumers of fossil fuels and the largest contributor of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 2004 turned out to
be another important year for hybrid vehicles where
the sales doubled for the second consecutive year. The
various factors that would lead to a faster spread of the
hybrid vehicles are lower cost, wider product line-ups
and opportunities to actually experience hybrid
vehicles. It has been observed that in transportation
sector, emissions from passenger cars constitute nearly
90 percent of the sector total. Thus, reducing CO2
emissions of passenger cars would be a big
contribution to the environment.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) offer a fuel
efficient solution that combines an electric motor
based drivetrain with the conventional internal
combustion engine (ICE) to reduce fuel consumption
and vehicle emissions [3]-[5].
Growth in on-road transportation is closely
associated with the development of the global
economy. Due to present worldwide trends in
ISSN: 2231-5381
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) were designed to
overcome the disadvantages of gasoline powered and
battery electric vehicles. HEVs combine the
conventional ICE driven mechanical drivetrain with a
motor propelled electric drivetrain. Electric power to
the motor in a hybrid vehicle is usually provided by a
chemical battery. The presence of an on-board electric
motor allows optimized operation of the engine in its
maximum efficiency region, thus providing a higher
fuel efficiency than ICEVs while the use of ICE to
charge the battery allows for a much more extended
driving range than BEVs. The electric motor also
enables regenerative braking and shutting down the
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 28 Number 2 - October 2015
engine during idling further increases the efficiency of
the vehicle.
Fig. 3 Basic Hybrid Car Parts
II. FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND
There are still some downsides with hybrid cars.
The small amount of pollution they produced, the
pollution from the factories making these cars, and the
Fig. 2 (a) Battery electric (b) fuel Cell (c) Hybrid Electric
chemicals used in powering the fuel cell cars.
Hybrid cars will make a difference because of its Obviously if a hybrid car has a gas engine than there
almost zero emissions and the money it saves on gas. will be some pollution produced but still a substantial
Just think of being able to drive twice as far on a tank amount less than normal gas cars. Where a car or
of gas and saving money while doing it. A hybrid car anything is produced by a factory, there will be
is a car with both a gas powered engine and an electric pollution. With the development of these new cars
motor. The electric motor is powered by batteries, there might be new technologies that will improve the
which are recharged while driving the same way as way things are made. The fuel cell cars also have a
with a normal car battery. The gas engine is the same disadvantage and that is the chemicals needed to run
as one that would be found in a normal car. These two the car. Even though there are some negatives with the
power sources can be used simultaneously or by alternative cars the more they will be used the more
themselves depending on what the car is doing. An improvements will be made to make them even better
electric car is one that runs purely off an electric than they already are.
There are many factors that are responsible for slow
motor that is run off batteries. When not in use the car
is plugged in by a special plug to recharge the sale of hybrid cars, such as:
Lack of Information to Consumer: There are many
batteries. A fuel cell car runs off a special engine that
runs off hydrogen, oxygen, and other chemicals. The misconceptions associated with the fairly new hybrid
advantage of this is the only by-product is water technology that mislead consumers. One such
instead of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide like misconception is the high maintenance cost on
regular car engines, and other pollutants. The world is batteries. Battery replacement can cost two to three
in need of an alternative car to stop the pollution and thousand dollars, however most manufacturers now
the large amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. offer 8-10 years/240,000 km warrantees and in
The good thing with hybrid cars is the emissions and coming years, with the progress in battery technology,
gas mileage. With low emissions comes significantly this warrantee is expected to go up to vehicle life.
less pollution. Hybrid cars have good gas mileage
Financial Limitations: The high initial cost of
since they do not run entirely off the engine. With
good gas mileage comes a reduced need for gas so it hybrids is the main cause of low sales. Most hybrids
will be conserved and there would be a lesser chance cost seven to twelve thousand dollars more than their
of a shortage. Needing less gas would also lower gas non-hybrid versions of vehicles of the same class. This
prices. The hybrid cars are also equipped with good increase in cost is attributed to low demand and higher
aerodynamics to reduce drag, which helps the car to cost of additional electric components, particularly the
run smoother and not need as much fuel. By using battery.
both a conventional engine and electric motor, the best
Challenges in Technology: The addition of
hybrids achieve significantly better fuel efficiency
than their non-hybrid counterparts. They also pollute electrical components to the vehicle traction system
makes the design and control of hybrid electric
less and save drivers money through fuel savings.
vehicles a challenging task. Drivetrain components
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 28 Number 2 - October 2015
have to be designed specifically to HEV application
such that the vehicle performance can compete with
all other available automobiles in the market. In this
regard, hybrid vehicles have several challenges to
overcome, particularly in the design and control of
their electric drivetrain for enhanced driving
performance, advancement in battery technology for
longer life, lighter weight and higher power density,
and the improvement in the spaciousness of the
vehicles to satisfy consumer expectation.
always putting pressure on its suppliers to cut costs. If
the component manufacturers were able to refine their
technologies so as to miniaturize components and
consequently reduce their manufacturing cost, they
will profit from their participation in hybrid car
market.
III. CONCLUSIONS
The production of the hybrid car will continue, as
popularity increases, and the people will enjoy in the
tax saving and the features that the hybrid automobile
There are some other downsides also that the brings to the benefit of the people.
consumer will get with the purchase of a hybrid car.
In conclusion, hybrid cars will be the next
The main disadvantage with almost all electric, hybrid, alternative to fuel vehicle. Their demand is increasing,
and fuel cell cars is the low amounts of power.
not only in America, but worldwide. Asia countries,
such as Japan, Korea and Singapore owners of hybrid
cars are enjoying tax relief from switching to hybrid
motor. It is inevitable that fuel motor cars model will
be going down to history and hybrid cars is making a
history.
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Transport Canada Report: Transportation in Canada – An
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Fundamentals, Boca Raton, CRC Press, 2003.
D. J. Santini, P. D. Patterson, and A. D. Vyas, Importance of
vehicle costs, fuel prices, and fuel efficiency in hybrid
electric vehicle market success, Transportation Research
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D. Hermance and S. Sasaki, Hybrid electric vehicles take to
the streets, IEEE Spectrum, vol. 35, pp. 48-52, Nov. 1998.
World Energy Outlook 2004, International Energy Agency
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Satti Swami Reddy , Kola Siva Tharun, Eco Friendly Vehicle
(Hybrid Electric Vehicle), IJETT, Volume 4 Issue 4- April
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And Electric Vehicle, International Journal of Engineering
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Fig. 4 Expectations of Users
It is likely that we would be able to see some
increase in the size of the hybrid car market. Though,
there is no doubt that the market must have a wider
line-up of models offered at prices that are more
competitive. The main issue that the industry is facing
is how to offer smaller-sized components that can be
manufactured for lower cost. While many electrical
equipment and component manufacturers have set up
dedicated automotive marketing divisions and
research centres. They do not have any means of
identifying the needs of the major manufacturers. The
growth of the hybrid car market will require that
hybrid systems are made smaller and offered at lower
cost. For the electrical components manufacturers the
industry provides quite stable outlet. At the same time,
the industry demands a high level of quality and is
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