In full fall in the sale of cars because of the crisis, the hybrid sector makes a wink to luck and presents a slight improvement. Although the economic factor continues to be the main value to take into account when buying a vehicle, many are already those that get into the energy savings car and bet on the environment. The automotive world has noticed the blows of the world crisis, but the future looks towards a car prototype that merges design, savings and utility.
In the midst of generalized pessimism, achieved by the coup of economic falls, there is still a reason to think of green, and more when we observe that hybrid vehicles maintain their level of sales. Of the brands that market the prototypes respectful of the environment, Toyota is the one that has most increased with its pioneer Pirus model, while, on the other hand, the figures of the Honda Civic Hibryd are not given so many joys its manufacturers. Lexus, one of the avant -garde firms in this field with up to three hybrid models, LS 600H, GS 450H and RX 400H, has maintained its level of sales. At one step away from hybrids, there are ecological cars, which in Citröen are 50% of their range.
While some predict that the future is in the hands of this type of cars, and that it is only about time and trust, many others are currently looking for power and economy when acquiring a new vehicle. The appearance of hybrids is similar to the conventional car. The difference is found inside, where more than one energy source is used, combining an internal combustion engine and another electric to optimize its performance.
When the internal combustion engine works, it does so with its maximum efficiency. In the event that more energy is generated than necessary, the electricity exerts the battery of the system as a generator and loads. In other situations, only the electric motor works when feeding on the energy stored in the battery.
{YouTube} EVZ-C8FVRP4 {/YouTube}
As a general rule, the hybrid vehicle moves with electricity stored in batteries at low speeds, as in the city, and when it needs more power, the conventional engine enters. In addition to ecological and environmental aspects, these cars offer a series of advantages in performance and driving, among which is the practice of noise, in addition to greater softness and ease of use. On the other hand, its recharge is faster, significantly reduces consumption levels, and the degree of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere is much lower than those of a conventional car.
At the moment, only three brands, Honda, Lexus and Toyota, market some model of these characteristics in Spain, but the fact that the rest of the firms have soon announced the exit of similar cars confirms the strength of this sector, where manufacturers and are fully involved in the development of new prototypes, such as Honda, which recently announced its forecast to launch a hybrid sports CR-Z.
But not all reality is so favorable to the creation of hybrids, since their biggest problem is costs. The batteries they use are very expensive, so the possibility of incorporating compressed air batteries is already being studied to replace the current ones. The new system, the result of the research of a Federal Swiss Institute of Technology, stores energy using the engine pistons to compress air.
This new technology could save the same amount of fuel as the current hybrid cars that use gasoline and electricity, but it would be remarkably cheaper. That compressed air is then used to operate the pistons and boost the vehicle. According to the first estimates, this system would mean only 20% additional cost, compared to 200% that current hybrids require.
The idea is not new. The difficult thing is to achieve efficiency. Compressed air tanks store much less energy than electricity batteries, and that limits energy savings. The proposal of the head of the researchers, the engineer Lino Gazella, is to take advantage of pneumatic energy instead of the braking.
Gazella replaces a two -liter gasoline engine with a 750 milliliter small. This uses compressed air to accelerate. Dense air provides oxygen to burn more fuel, a technique called supercompression.
In addition, compressed air propulsion cars could walk up to 1,280 kilometers with a single load, and would be recharged in less than three minutes. But to be able to see this project, this project will have to wait, although the future is painted green and reaches the world of automotive to be able to say goodbye to the black smoke.
