Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Why An Electric Honda Civic Hyrbrid Is Better Than Using Alternative Fuel

Electric cars have been around for a long time. In the early 1900s, there were more electric cars than gasoline cars. This was because gasoline was very expensive. It was also difficult to start a gasoline engine; there was no key to turn and start the car like there is today. To get the car to start, you had to turn and turn a crank in front of the car before it would start.


Electric cars were popular, at one stage there alot of them being driven on the roads of the United States. This was because gasoline vehicles were very noisy and put out a lot of smoke. The cars either had no mufflers, or the mufflers were not very good.


Electric cars soon faded away. New ways to make gasoline were being discovered. The electric starter was invented, this started a car with a key instead of the crank. A gasoline car could travel further distances than the electric cars. Therefore, gasoline cars soon become the popular method of transportation. Now that there is push towards cleaner cars, electricity and electric cars are again being looked at as ways to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases from being released into the environment by gasoline.


Electric cars do not burn gasoline. They use electricity stored in batteries. In these electric cars, the battery is used to run the motor which then turns the wheels. It may take up to 12 or 24 batteries to power the car.


To charge these batteries, the car is usually plugged in at night. Some cars can plug into a regular electrical wall outlet. Other cars need a larger outlet, similar to one a stove may plug into. The electricity is then stored in the batteries in the car.


There are different types of batteries for different cars. Some batteries can be lead acid, like batteries found in a flashlight. Or they could be ni-cad (nickel-cadmium) like batteries found in a portable video game player -- only they will be much larger. Better batteries that can last longer and hold more energy are constantly being developed. Most electric cars should be able to travel 150 to 200 miles before needing to be recharged.


Car manufacturers and scientists are constantly coming up with new ideas and ways to run our vehicles in a cleaner, more environmentally friendly way. The production of the electric car is an exciting one that growing and is being embraced by more and more people every day.