Hybrid cars are considered a bridge between electrical vehicles and traditional, gasoline-based cars. A hybrid vehicle will use gasoline, just like a traditional car, while also using a 12V lead-acid battery from which it pulls energy. The hybrid vehicle will switch seamlessly between the two power sources, so you, as the driver, won’t even notice the transition while driving.
Hybrid car batteries are self-charging, smaller, and typically don’t support all-electric driving, while those used in plug-in electric cars are larger and need to connect to an external source to charge and allow for all-electric driving.
Mile Hybrid Automotive service specialists tell us that the hybrid battery is actually a battery pack, as it is made up of hundreds – or even up to thousands – of small batteries. The battery charges through regenerative breaking, a process where the energy created when braking, instead of being wasted, is either used to power the wheels directly, or stored in the battery to be used later.
The energy produced by a hybrid battery will determine the electric range the hybrid car is capable of. The power available from the battery in a given moment will determine the car’s acceleration.
Most hybrid batteries have a 100,000-mile or 8-year warranty, but some can start failing before that, so owners need to invest in new hybrid batteries from time to time, which can make car maintenance a little expensive. Fortunately, the technology is continuously evolving, and therefore modern hybrid batteries are considerably more resilient than those released a few years ago.