Hybrid car - everything you need to know

Mobility in upheaval: More and more new types of fuel are coming onto the market that will displace classic internal combustion engines in the long term. The alternatives include hybrid cars, like the VW Golf GTE, which combine the best of both worlds. They have two drive systems, an electric engine and a combustion engine. For short distances, you drive in an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient way on electricity, while the combustion engine, as seen in models such as the Fiat 500 Hybrid, gives you better range than with a purely electric car. These innovations, exemplified by Skoda, are reshaping the automotive landscape towards sustainability.

How does a hybrid car work?

Did you know? Vehicle manufacturers have been working on the development of hybrid cars for almost as long as there have been cars. As early as the 1890s, dual-drive cars were rolling along the roads, using the powerful electric drive as an acceleration reserve. But research only took off in the wake of the oil crisis in the early 1980s and the looming climate crisis. In 1994, Audi started with a hybrid drive for the Audi 80 duo; the Audi A4 duo followed in 1997. However, both were so expensive that production was soon discontinued due to insufficient demand. Manufacturers such as Honda also undertook trials. Newer technologies and increasingly stringent EU emission limits have led to a surge in the development of hybrid cars since the 2000s. Today, almost every car manufacturer has hybrid vehicles in its portfolio, and even buses and trucks are available as hybrid variants.

What makes hybrids so interesting is their range. This still limits the use of electric vehicles to short distances. If you use your vehicle both in the city and for long distances, you will quickly reach your limits with an electric car. For one thing, the necessary charging infrastructure is not available everywhere, and for another, the charging process takes considerably longer than conventional refueling. In hybrid cars, the recuperation effect of the engine is used to charge the battery. So how does it work?

Equipped with a classic combustion engine - diesel or gasoline - and an additional electric motor, your hybrid vehicle can access two energy sources. The electric motor is fed by a battery that is charged via recuperation. This means that the energy released during braking and by the engine brake of the combustion engine is recovered and converted into charge for the battery. This gives the electric motor a high level of efficiency. With internal combustion engines, the remaining energy dissipates in the form of heat and exhaust gases. Here is a comparison:

Motor type

Efficiency at optimum speed and load

Gasoline engine

37 %

Diesel engine

43 %

Electric motor

over 90 %

However, the dual engine makes hybrids heavier than internal combustion engines, so they have extra fuel consumption for that reason alone.

In a hybrid car, you can choose to use only one of the two drives - or both. An in-vehicle control system selects the best combination of drives for the situation:

• In city traffic with a lot of stop-and-go, you drive particularly efficiently with pure electric drive.

• You use the powerful acceleration of the electric motor at high speed to support the combustion engine.

• You use the combustion engine with high torque, whereby part of the energy is used to charge the battery and the remaining energy is used for propulsion.

What are the differences in the available hybrid types?

If you're looking into the topic of hybrids, you'll quickly come across terms like mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid and so on. What's the difference between them and which type of hybrid vehicle is right for you? We'll explain it to you.

Mild-Hybrid

Mild hybrids accelerate rapidly thanks to assistance from the electric motor. This means that this type of vehicle consumes less gasoline. However, you can only drive it purely electrically over very short distances.

Plug-in-Hybrid

Plug in and charge - the name says it all with the plug-in. Since you can plug your PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) into any power outlet, you don't need a charging station at home and can still charge the battery externally. This makes the plug-in hybrid the most flexible to use.

Full Hybrid

On short distances, you can drive purely electrically with a full hybrid; on long distances, you can rely on the combustion engine.

What are the costs of hybrid cars?

Rising fuel prices make hybrids interesting: They are between 10 and 15 percent more economical to run than pure gasoline and diesel engines. Not to mention environmental aspects, because less gasoline consumption also means fewer emissions. Tax breaks in Switzerland offset the higher purchase price. But beware: these vary from canton to canton. It's best to find out in advance whether the following benefits are available in your home canton:

• Subsidies

• Grants

• Tax relief (amount and duration)

Insurance companies also sometimes grant discounts on premiums if you drive a hybrid vehicle. In the long run (or even in the short run in some cantons), the higher purchase price pays for itself.

For whom are hybrid cars suitable?

Environmentally friendly, future-proof and economical, this great station wagon will delight any driver. Frequent drivers quickly notice the difference in the maintenance of the new car. Since the vehicle has two independently usable drives, it is also your reliable companion on long journeys. Full and plug-in hybrids are particularly energy-efficient on short distances in city traffic since the battery recovers a lot of energy during frequent braking.

Hybrid vehicles on subscription

All over Europe and in Switzerland, ever stricter CO2 targets are being imposed on new vehicles. It is, therefore, a wise decision to opt for an environmentally friendly vehicle that will still be allowed to enter any low-emission zone in several years' time. But there is still the question of range, which has so far limited all-electric vehicles. This makes the low-emission hybrids the ideal choice for people who often drive long distances and need a vehicle that they don't have to recharge for several hours after driving around 400 km.

Are you toying with a hybrid car, but the high purchase price puts you off? With a car subscription from CARIFY, you can test the driving experience of a hybrid without any obligation because you can rent our hybrid cars for as little as one month and then cancel without any problems (after the minimum term). When comparing CARIFY to other car subscription companies in Switzerland like Carvolution and BMW Abo, you'll find that CARIFY takes this experience to a whole new level. And once you are convinced, you can extend your subscription or choose another vehicle. The costs are always transparent to you because everything is included in the subscription price except for the gasoline.

Discover the latest hybrid cars on subscription at CARIFY!