Review Car

Hybrid Cars & Top 10 Hybrid Cars

Here's an interesting question: If you were asked to name the manufacturer that invented the hybrid car, your answer would be Toyota, wouldn't it? If you did give that answer, you'd be wrong because – aside from the fact that no one company can really claim ownership to the hybrid as there were too many parallel efforts going on at the same time – the first company to market with a hybrid was, believe it or not, Honda. 

That's right, Honda's Insight hybrid beat Toyota's Prius line to market by nearly a fully year, making its debut as a 2000 during the winter of 1999-2000. Toyota, whose public relations machine is the envy just about everyone in business, did do its inevitable and established the Prius as "the first," but they can't take that honor away from Honda. 

In reality, the Insight or Prius – or any of the subsequent fleet of hybrids that have been making their mark on the car business over the last decade – couldn't have appeared at a better time, as far as the industry is concerned. For a variety of reasons, gasflation (gasoline and inflation) or the inevitable rise in the cost of gasoline has been beating the industry with a large piece of very non-insulated rubber tubing since about 2006 when gasoline started its merry surge forward to the point now where the cost of regular has just crested $3 in parts of the country, and the hybrid has been one of the answers. 

Really, it makes sense. The hybrid, although not as efficient as some gasoline-only engines out there on a pound-to-output basis, is one way in which you can easily stretch your fuel dollar. 

The basic hybrid – Toyota, Honda, Ford or General Motors – works in much the same manner. The basic building blocks of every hybrid vehicle are the same — a small gasoline engine; a sophisticated electronic motor; a sophisticated transmission system; highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art electronics, and a very unique braking system – and combine into a system that can easily add 30 or more percent to a vehicle's mileage potential. 

Describing how a hybrid works is actually very simple. Built around a sled 150-amp hour sled of batteries (Nickel-metal/hydride or Lithium-ion), that powers a sophisticated electrical power system. At once, the electrical power system acts as a driver for the electric motor to provide around-town power, while, when slowing or cruising slowly, the same system acts as a generator that provides power for the battery sled either through regenerative braking (most of the time braking bleeds off as heat, here the power is not bled as heat, but is used to power an alternator at each wheel that feeds power back into the batteries); or at slower speeds, where the vehicle is doing little more than free-wheeling the same alternator kicks in more power back into the batteries). 

Interestingly, the intelligent power management system that provides the heart of the hybrid is the key to the hybrid itself. Without its development and subsequent updates since 2000, hybrids would not be as good as they are. Aside from this development, development of NiMh and LI-on batteries has made the hybrid a workable idea. 

So, what are the world's best hybrid systems? 

The Prius by Toyota, of course, having been around nearly as long as Honda's system and having had the longest period of continuous development, the Prius systems, which can easily achieve 50-mpg plus, if you don't hammer it down the road (the one bad part of using smaller engines to supplement battery systems), you will find the Prius rock-stable. Toyota also offers hybrids in its other lines. 

The early/later Insight by Honda: A niche/composite two-door until 2004, the Civic moved into its spot in mid-decade with less-than-spectacular results. The Insight is back, now, thanks to Honda's market and with the continuous development done to the Civic and Accord Hybrids, the Insight would not have been put in this spot.  

Ford's Escape Hybrid: So, when did a hybrid SUV get a toehold in the top 10. It was probably about 2005 when Ford made a serious effort to use the knowledge it had developed in its subsidiaries, such as Mazda, to manufacture a forward-looking SUV/hybrid that actually turned in good mileage and was actually responsive.  

Honda CR-Z: Okay, fast-forward 11 years and you have the Honda CR-Z. It's probably what the Insight would have become, if Honda had gone through its natural product cycle. This is the only two-seater on the market and is pretty fun to drive. 

2010/11 Ford Fusion: Here's a sleeper that frankly caught us flat-footed when we spotted the redesign that Ford sprang on the world last year with the Fusion (normal Fords had six-year shelf lives, not three). With the design, into arguably the best mid-sized on the market, the hybrid gives lie to the opinion that you can't get better than 35 mpg in a mid-sized. 

Chevy Malibu: Not to be outdone, Chevy did the required retooling and now has a very credible competitor for the Fusion Hybrid. The mid-sized Chevy Malibu Hybrid will carry five in comfort and handles well, so Ford may see something in its rearview. 

The top-10 wouldn't be complete with without obligatory high-end hybrid, so we've included the 2011 S400 Hybrid Mercedes-Benz that it calls the "first series production hybrid vehicle in the world with a lithium-ion battery." That's M-B's hyperbole, of course, but if you can come up with $91,000, you can be the first on your block.

Mercedes tech talk is hyperbole when you consider that the Chevy Volt, okay, it's an all-electric with an engine that charges only the battery pack was actually the first consumer vehicle to announce and implement the Li-On battery, but if you stretch things a bit, it's still sort-of-a hybridHyundai has added a hybrid Sonata to its lineup with its sweeping roof line and nicely arched body. 

Honda has also added a Fit hybrid to its lineup.