What is a "hybrid" car?

What is a "hybrid" car?

Terry Tamminen (Author & Environmental Policy Advisor) gives expert video advice on: Are there tax incentives for purchasing a hybrid vehicle?; Where can I buy an electric car?; How affordable are hybrid cars? and more...

A hybrid is a car or a truck that combines a small, fairly fuel efficient gasoline engine with an electric motor and batteries. The batteries are recharged whenever you're using the gasoline engine. For example as you reach full highway speeds of 55 or 65 mph in your hybrid, you're also recharging your batteries. Then when you get into start and stop city driving, you switch over to the electric motor and you run off the batteries, or the batteries and the electric motor assist the gasoline engine. So you get very improved fuel economy with that kind of a combination of a hybrid.