Abstract This report explains how advantageous a hybrid car is and why conventional car should be replaced by hybrid car. Hybrid car is getting more popular and marketable because of its advantages. In essence, the report touches on the benefits of owning a hybrid car and some possible effects. The problems that arisen are environmental problems which catch the whole world’s attention, the prices and fuel are hiking up and the fuels are limited in supply. Therefore, hybrid cars are here to help people to overcome the problems.
They are definitely the best solution to replace conventional cars because they are more advantageous than conventional cars. Hybrid cars have the ability to save fuel which ultimately reduces the dependence on foreign fuel. They are environmental friendly because they emit lesser toxic gas and that helps in overcoming the serious environmental problems like climate change and global warming. Tax incentives which are offered by government only confined to hybrid car owners instead of conventional car owners to encourage and boost up the sales of hybrid cars. . 0 Introduction Nowadays, people out there are worried with the conventional cars that they using daily which only make use of one source of energy, fuel. This is simply because the price of fuel is hiking up and using conventional cars causes serious environmental damage to our planet. Lim (2006) claims that society should face the fact that supply of fuel is limited and the price of it will be rising in fast pace. Therefore, people are seeking for other alternative ways of travelling to replace conventional cars.
Some of them took opportunity and make use of public transports. If the distance is short, some may even walk to their destinations with the intention of cutting transportation costs. However, these are not the best solution after all. Therefore, the hybrid technology came in and hybrid cars have became another alternative means of travelling. A hybrid car is a vehicle that uses and depends on two or more different sources of energy to operate it.
One type of the hybrid cars is hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) which combine an internal combustion engine and electric motor powered by a large battery pack (Hybridcenter. org, n. d ). Hybrid cars have long been existed and they are not new technology, but they were not on sale. With the advancement of technology in today’s world, hybrid cars are now available. In United States of America, Honda Insight was the first model of hybrid electric car which was launched in 1999 ( Walczak, n. d). Meanwhile, Toyota Prius reached United States in the following year, 2000.
Even though hybrid cars are available for purchase and the evidence is strong enough to suggest that hybrid car is much advanced than a conventional car and it is beneficial to our environment, today, the question on everybody’s mind is, are hybrid cars the best solution to replace conventional cars? However, if we take an inside look of hybrid cars, we will see that hybrid cars are certainly the best solution to replace conventional cars because they save fuel, environmental friendly and they are more economical.
This report will show convincing evidence and facts of why conventional cars should be replaced by hybrid cars. The research findings are confined to the whole world because the whole world is concerning about the environment problems and also the fuel prices. 2. 0 Body of Report 2. 1 Hybrid Cars save Fuel With the growing concerns about high fuel prices, the popularity of hybrid cars has grown exponentially. As time goes by, more and more people are beginning to be acquainted with hybrid cars and started to switch from using conventional cars to hybrid cars.
The reason why they will go for hybrid cars instead of the normal conventional cars is that hybrid cars consume less fuel, which in turn lends a hand in helping consumers to save money and also reduce dependence on foreign oil. Drivers are infuriated due to the prices of fuel keep rising up and government are worried about the sources of fuel is limited. Drivers are looking for way to cut down expenses of driving and this is the moment for hybrid cars to excel (Cleveland, 2009). However, there are people who argue that this is not the right time to get a hybrid car because hybrid cars are now too pricey (Mason, n. ). Also, Patel (2009) claims that it has been estimated that the price of hybrid cars will rise over years. However, hybrid cars are not all expensive, there are also some other low priced hybrid cars. With the low priced hybrid car and fuel savings, consumers can save much using a hybrid than a conventional car. Besides, they can also buy a used hybrid car with a more affordable price. In short, hybrid cars are certainly the best solution to replace conventional cars. People can always put an equal sign between save fuel and save money.
This is because when a hybrid car is accelerating, cruising or braking, it saves energy. A small and efficient gas engine is used in a hybrid car to generate power for an electric motor, which in turn moves the wheels. While extra power will be stored in a large pack of battery which will then being extracted out when the car needs a boost of energy to accelerate. This leads to a waste of running a big motor all the time being eliminated. Besides, a hybrid car will shut off automatically if the battery is fully charged.
Therefore, a gas engine only runs when it needs to engender energy for electric motor. This in turn leads to an increase in fuel efficiency and also reducing cost to pay for fuel. On the contrary, energy is lost when a conventional car is accelerating. A considerable amount of energy needs to be generated by an engine in a conventional car to accelerate. Conventional car is designed with large engine due to the large amount of energy needed to accelerate a conventional car. Energy is wasted when a conventional car is at cruising speed or coasting, this is because they continue to burn extra fuel.
Money that has to be paid for fuel is wasted as well as the fuel. In addition, stopping a car also dissipate energy. Heavy cars take a huge amount of energy to get them up to speed. All these problems can be solved when it comes to hybrid cars. Hybrid cars use regenerative braking to recoup some of the energy lost during stopping. This energy is saved in a large pack of battery and can be used later in order to power the motor when the car is in electric mode (Pollick 2010). This will ultimately help drivers to save fuel and money.
Thus, conventional cars should be replaced by hybrid cars because the non-renewable fuel is limited and therefore should not be wasted. 2. 2 Tax Incentives for Hybrid Car Owners With worries over air pollution on earth and also world political pressures to diminish greenhouse emissions, step taken by President George W. Bush in 2005 was to provide tax incentives for hybrid car owners. Back in 2005, President George Bush signed an agreement that provides tax breaks for hybrid car buyers (Lim, 2006). In accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the federal government has made a start in offering unprecedented tax ncentives to hybrid car buyers during the very beginning of 2006 (West, n. d). The government is doing so to encourage the consumption of hybrid cars in order to deal with the serious environmental crisis and reduce fuel consumption. With the tax breaks offered, consumers are able to save money on taxes. Tax incentive is a specific dollar amount that is subtracted directly from the total amount of the tax owed, it means that a tax credit is being deducted dollar for dollar from the tax owed (BusinessTaxRecovery. com, n. d). Tax incentive reduces tax obligation as well.
In United States and some other countries, tax credit is used to spur the sales of hybrid cars. The amount of tax credit varies from one model to another (Lim, 2006). Lim (2006) also claims that one of the determinants of how much tax credit should be offered is the fuel efficiency of hybrid cars in comparison with conventional cars. Most of the hybrids cars available today are qualify for the credit (IRS. gov, 2008). In United State, individuals who buy a new hybrid car are entitled to a tax credit up to $3400 in federal tax incentives (HybridCars. com, n. d).
In spite of this, some have argued that the batteries in hybrid cars have to be replaced every 150,000 to 200,000 miles and they are costly. Hybrid car buyers always worry about this problem because hybrid car relies heavily on the battery in the car (Hybrid-Cars. org, 2008). In addition, the battery has to be replaced if it does not work anymore. The battery costs around $5000 to $8000 which is very expensive and higher than the tax credit offered (Patel, 2009). The reality is that the argument is not strong because the battery pack in the hybrid cars is warranted for eight to ten years (Gorman, 2008).
Also, he suggest that the battery lasts longer and lives longer than the car; it is designed to last between 150,000 and 200,000 miles in term if mileage and that is way further than the life expectancy of the car. Gorman (2008) also claims that it does not need to be replaced. Besides, to show the drop in power of the battery pack over distance, The U. S. Department of Energy had commenced tests on it and the results shows that there is no discernible drop in battery capacity after 160000 miles (Hybridcarexamples. org, n. d).
In short, this is an obvious advantage arises from using hybrid car over conventional car and conventional cars should be replaced by hybrid cars. 2. 3 Hybrid cars are environmental friendly Today, hybrid cars are replacing the conventional cars slowly by passing each day as they are environmental friendly which ultimately leads to lesser environmental problems and a better environment for the new generations. A numbers of environmental crises arisen and they are now affecting the whole world gravely. For this reason, people are now considering to buy a hybrid car as people are concern about the impact of environmental crisis.
In today’s world, most of the transportation make use and burn fossil fuels (Lopez, 2008). Examples of fossil fuels are gasoline, diesel, kerosene and also coal. Despite producing a lot of energy, they also produce a high quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) which results in serious environmental problem. This is where hybrid car plays its important role in saving the earth. Hybrid cars are run using both internal combustion engine and electric motor. Hybrid cars give off less poisonous contaminants into the atmosphere and thus reducing the hazards of global warming.
They use less gasoline and emit lower toxic emissions in comparison to a conventional car. This is solely because they run on electricity at a higher proportion of time and it is a much cleaner form of energy if compare to conventional cars (Odom, 2006). The environment would be much cleaner and better if everyone is using hybrid car. Odom (2006) also claims that problems like smog and the hole in the ozone layer will eventually be eliminated. With lesser pollutants being emitted, people get to live a healthier life. Hybrid cars give off fewer gases that can cause respiratory diseases like lung cancer.
Hybrid cars also tend to reduce noise pollution when the car operating using electric motor. Nevertheless, there are also people who argue that hybrid cars are relatively heavy and hybrid car stores high amount of voltage in its battery (Abdelwali, 2008). Also, he claims that it is unsafe because the possibility of getting electrocuted when you get involved in a crash is high. However, it is not true to claim that because by designing the batteries to shut down in case of accident, most of the hybrid cars manufacturers claim that the risk has been minimized (Kazimierczuk, n. d).
Therefore, in order to save our precious planet, we should use hybrid cars instead of conventional cars. 3. 0 Recommendations Due to the soaring fuel prices and also the environmental problems that are currently invading our planet, as a human being, we carry the responsibility of protecting our planet. Undoubtedly, hybrid cars are definitely the best solution in order to solve the problems. Conventional cars should be replaced by hybrid cars because hybrid cars emit lesser toxic pollutants if compared to conventional cars. This will ultimately save our planet and that also provides a better environment for the new generations.
Therefore, the society should save the earth by purchasing a hybrid car. Buying a hybrid car helps us to save money on fuel consumption as well as saving the earth. With more hybrid cars on the road, greenhouse emissions will be reduced and that leads to a better environment in the near future. Besides, a campaign regarding the importance of a healthy and clean environment should be organized by the government to enlighten everyone about the consequences of polluted environment. The promotion of a healthy and clean environment campaign is beneficial to the people out there.
This is because a clean environment enhances our health, ensures a better quality of life and decreases the risk of diseases. 4. 0 Conclusion To sum up, hybrid car is really advantageous and it is beneficial to everyone on the earth. With the advantages of a hybrid car, people should take a step forward to save our earth and we have to right to take away a good environment from the new generations. People should switch from using conventional cars to hybrid cars because they can save fuel which will reduce dependence on foreign fuel.
They are also environmental friendly which help us to save our earth by reducing the greenhouse emissions to the earth. In addition, the tax incentives which are offered by government are very high too. Government and society should work together to get hybrid cars on track. Bibliography Adbelwali, H (2008), Hybrid Cars Advantages and Disadvantages, Articlesbase, viewed 22 March 2010, http://www. articlesbase. com/cars-articles/hybrid-cars-advantages-and-disadvantages-397138. html BusinessTaxRecovery. com (n. d), Definition of a Tax Credit,
