The electric motor used in hybrid cars is, by contrast, very flexible and is very much better at handling the power surge that is required for acceleration although for rapid acceleration the gas engine will 2 kick in“.

The electric motor on hybrid vehicles is also very good for low level town and urban driving.

When stationary the electric motor is effectively shut down, it does not need to “tick over” like a traditional gas engine. So when waiting in traffic jams or at lights you are not using any fuel or wearing out your engine.

The electric motor should provide all the power that is needed for most town driving in hybrids, but will automatically switch over to the gas engine when more power is required, often around the 40mph mark.

Then when the power need are less, for example when you pull off the freeway and back to an urban cycle again the gas engine will shut down and the electric motor will, seamlessly, take over again.

The batteries on hybrid cars do not need to be charged form a mains electric source, but are constantly kept topped up by the on board generators powered by the engine. The batteries are also kept “topped up” by the braking action of the car.

Normally when a car brakes the energy from the motion of the car is lost and the car needs a fresh supply of power or gas to push it back up to speed it was at before braking.

Hybrid cars with their electric motors have the ability to recover and re-use this power, cutting, even further, the need for more fuel.

The electric motor on a Hybrid car, when going backwards or reversed will, instead of using electricity, will act as a generator and create electricity. So when the car is braking, in addition to the normal brakes, the electric motor is used as a brake.

This turns the motor backwards and generates electricity, which is then stored in the batteries for later use. So you can effectively use the same power twice.

Because of all these factors hybrid cars are highly fuel-efficient and produce very little emissions compared to a standard car.

Because of this and the rising cost of fuel and the need to curtail the massive amounts of greenhouse gases being pumped into the environment, these types of cars are becoming increasingly popular.

And with the new tax breaks for hybrid cars and more models becoming available this trend looks set to continue.