Nevertheless, conventional hybrids are still locked into the oil economy, with a drive shaft directly connected to a gasoline engine.
Some car companies are rolling out hybrids that can switch over to a gasoline engine when the battery runs low.
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The Volt is more of a hybrid--it's got a gasoline engine that takes over when the batteries run down after 40 miles.
Like C-MAX Hybrid, C-MAX Energi has projected total system horsepower of 188 that stems from the combination of a gasoline engine and a battery-driven electric motor.
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He also hopes for a small gasoline engine and a larger electric motor.
For every mile driven, a turbocharged diesel burns 29% less fuel and spits out 20% less CO2 than a standard gasoline engine.
By optimizing the split-cycle concept, the Scuderi engine is expected to reduce NOx emissions up to 80 percent and improve fuel efficiency by 50 percent, compared to a conventional gasoline engine.
It runs on battery power for about 40 miles, after which a small gasoline engine kicks in to power an electric motor that extends the EV range for up to 300 miles.
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Details about how the car gets 282 mpg are sketchy, but it sounds like it will be electrified in some fashion, and will have a small gasoline engine (hence the 1.0-litre nickname).
As I calculated in my earlier Forbes article, one needs to multiply the EPA MPGe by .365 to get a number that truly compares fossil fuel use of an electric car with a traditional gasoline engine car on an apples to apples basis.
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Currently, the research effort has pioneered a hybrid engine that is cleaner than a diesel engine and almost twice as efficient as a typical gasoline-powered engine.
Fisker, electric with a small gasoline-engine generator, had effectively addressed only a sliver of the potential market for his magnificent car.
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The company announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the U.S. version of its Mazda 6 midsize sedan, which got a major redesign for the 2014 model year, will offer a new four-cylinder diesel engine, in addition to a conventional four-cylinder gasoline engine.
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That same car with a conventional small gasoline engine would probably get 15 kilometers per liter and use 1, 100 liters.
The company says that they emit 20% less carbon dioxide than a gasoline-fueled engine with a catalytic converter and consume 20% less fuel.
It has a highly fuel-efficient gasoline engine that gives Volt drivers a peace of mind and a confidence about not being stranded that drivers of Nissan Leaf and other EVs can only envy coupled with most of the advantages of being able to drive Volt in electric-only mode when desired.
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Here, the primary means of propulsion is a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine that nets a modest 275 horsepower.
The car keeps going for another 344 miles as a 63-horsepower gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the batteries.
Even though we were in a hybrid, the gasoline engine kicked on several times and it was nearly impossible to detect an increase in noise from within the cabin.
Mash the pedal in Auto EV mode and, after the electric motor pulls you off the line, there's a brief delay before the gasoline engine comes to life and the CVT raises the RPMs to maximize efficiency.
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Hybrids get their power from a battery pack or an onboard gasoline engine, or both.
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EcoMotors and Achates are developing two-stroke, opposed piston diesel engines while Pinnacle is working on a four-stroke opposed piston gasoline engine.
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The gasoline engine only turns a generator, which charges the battery and sends electricity to two electric traction motors that drive the car.
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The few hybrids BMW has introduced previously, such as the ActiveHybrid 7 and ActiveHybrid X6, which use an eight-cylinder gasoline engine instead of a six-cylinder, have not sold well.
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On the other hand, the LS600h L has a hybrid powertrain that pairs a 5.0-liter V8 gasoline engine with an electric motor.
Coming in 2012, a hybrid version of the flagship Audi A8 sedan will team a 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with an electric motor generator and self-charging 1.3 kWh lithium-ion battery pack to realize an impressive 37 mpg.
The car uses a 1.8-liter, 98-horsepower four-cylinder gasoline engine with an 80 hp (60 kW) electric motor charged on a Ni-MH battery.
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The maker of the Alto, A-Star and WagonR gasoline cars will open a 150, 000-unit-a-year diesel-engine plant and also expand its capacity to manufacture diesel cars by September to meet the expanding demand for diesel vehicles, he added.
The 1.4-liter gasoline engine under the hood functions as a generator, creating juice for the electric motor.
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