WITH GAS PRICES SKYROCKETING, HERE’S THE REAL REASON YOU SHOULD BUY A HYBRID CAR LIKE YESTERDAY
If you hadn’t noticed, buying gas for your car has gotten kind of expensive. Like really, really expensive. As of today, the average price of gas in the United States is a whopping $4.56. There have been a couple ups and downs in recent years, due to demand fluctuations and, well, Donald Trump. But there’s no avoiding the fact that no matter how hard you stab the calculator with your fingers, gas has only gotten more expensive. Back in 2020, the average price of gas was just $2.17 per gallon. So it’s more than doubled in just 5 years! That’s why it’s probably a really good time to buy a hybrid car. But there’s actually an even better, scientific reason to make you wish you already bought one, like yesterday.
BUYING ELECTRIC IN THE US WILL BE HARD FOR MOST PEOPLE TO AFFORD FOR A WHILE
Sure, buying electric would be pretty helpful to save on gas money. But you’d still have to pay for all the electricity to charge it. And if you don’t have your own solar panels and home battery, that will set you back a pretty, electrified copper penny in the hot summer months. Well, probably winter, too, if you have baseboard heating. And there’s also the fact that current American politics by way of the compromised Orange POTUS have made electric cars too expensive just to buy, as well as the fact that all US automakers have taken 5 steps back on developing new models. So buying a hybrid car seems the way to go, if only as a 5-10 year commitment.
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THE BEST KIND OF HYBRID CAR USES THE ATKINSON CYCLE, GIVING EVEN A MINIVAN 34 MPG EVERYWHERE
So what about the science, you ask? Well, many a hybrid car uses an engine that runs on the Atkinson cycle. If you don’t know what that is, I’m not surprised. It’s a thermodynamic tweak that was patented by James Atkinson all the way back in 1887. It offers a less powerful but more efficient engine system that makes a hybrid car a much more fuel efficient option. Regular gas cars use an Ott-cycle engine which gives you lots of power, but only gives you about a 25% thermal efficiency, which is how much the engine dumps expanding gases before getting the most out of them. A hybrid car using the Atkinson cycle is about 16% more efficient, but costs you power, especially in acceleration.
And that’s where the hybrid comes in, with the electric motor making up a lot of the difference to get you up to speed. That’s how even an old hybrid car like the 2021 Toyota Siena, a minivan, gets 34 mpg for both city and highway. That sounds almost affordable in this crazy gar market. You can learn a lot more about the Atkinson cycle here.
