As the world economy shifts to cleaner, more sustainabletransportation technologies, the role of hybrid vehicles is taking on agreater importance for governments and consumers alike. While the basicidea of using two or more vehicle propulsion systems working in tandemto produce more energy-efficient engines is nothing new, the push is onto improve the hybrid engine’s most important and technicallychallenging component — the battery.

Today’s hybrid engine technology has several basic variations, butall forms consist of a typical internal combustion engine supported andcomplemented by a battery and an electric motor. The battery providesthe electric motor with energy, and is in turn charged by the vehicle’scombustion engine when it is in use. The electric motor is designed topower the vehicle until the stored energy is drained, or until increasedpower requirements call for the internal combustion engine to kick in.This innovative engineering allows the modern hybrid vehicle to conserveand generate energy that would otherwise be lost with a typicalgas-powered vehicle.

It is not hard to appreciate the benefits of hybrid engine technology in today’s energy-obsessed society. As the Western world pushes for cleaner, more economical and secure energy sources,hybrid vehicles offer clear advantages over other recently developedvehicle technologies. They produce vastly fewer emissions and aretherefore friendlier to the environment, are affordable to the averagecar buyer, consume less gas making them smart investments for millionsof commuters around the world, and they have the power to dramaticallyreduce the West’s dependence on foreign oil supplies.

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