The internal combustion engine changed the way of life of people. Whereas before, people were limited to subsistence farming or working near their property, cars and other vehicles allowed cities to grow. However, that breakthrough was a mixed blessing, as heavy use of fossil fuels has been involved in rising levels of various environmental pollutants, and supplies of things like oil are dwindling. To combat these problems, car manufacturers developed hybrid cars.
Hybrid cars were designed to combine the best features of gasoline and electric cars. They get much better fuel economy than gasoline cars, but are more powerful and can travel longer distances than their purely electric counterparts. Many modern hybrids are attractive, even sporty-looking cars, and are virtually indistinguishable from regular cars on the outside. Many of them run more quietly than gasoline cars and produce less harmful exhaust fumes. When a hybrid car has to go uphill or perform other demanding tasks, it can use the energy in gasoline to provide enough power to get the job done. Altogether, they are a great compromise between the power of a gasoline vehicle and the cleanliness of an electric vehicle.
However, these hybrids are not a truly permanent solution, since they still rely on fossil fuels to run, they only help delay the inevitable. Since they rely on batteries, their components must be disposed of as hazardous waste. Vehicles that require an external power source need to have electricity supplied to them, and many times this electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant. Even nuclear-powered areas have their own particular problems, as nuclear waste must eventually be disposed of, and there is not yet a very good, clean way to dispose of spent nuclear waste. Additionally, hybrid cars tend to be very expensive, making them prohibitively expensive for many consumers. Although they use less gasoline, hybrid vehicles have several drawbacks that need to be taken into account before they can really be declared a truly green and environmentally friendly transportation solution.
Hybrid cars are still being perfected and have come a long way from their earliest models. These new cars are faster, more powerful and capable of traveling greater distances than their ancestors. In the future, new hybrid cars that combine electricity and non-gasoline fuels could end up being the solution to pollution and fossil fuel shortages that the world has been waiting for.