Hybrid cars have nowadays shown to be the best substitute for the conventional vehicles. Hybrid vehicles benefit from both electric car technology and traditional car technology. What makes a hybrid car differ from a gasoline-powered vehicle is an electric battery. The electric hybrid battery is rechargeable. The battery is charged through regenerative braking. When the driver presses the brake pedal, part of the energy produced charges back to the electric battery.

Are There any Differences between the Batteries?

Of course, there are a few differences between hybrid batteries and regular combustion batteries. The main difference is the lifespan of each battery. Hybrid car batteries last around 4 years longer than classic batteries. Other differences include:

Environmental Effects

Hybrid cars’ buyers prefer these kinds of vehicles, because they are environmentally friendly. But the lead-acid battery in classic cars do harm the environment.

Battery Taxonomy

A hybrid battery is a pack of individual cells. And, a standard vehicle battery is a 12V 40Ah lead-acid battery which contains a 6 or 12 cell series, depending on the vehicle.

Fuel Efficiency

Although all hybrid vehicles contain a lead-acid battery in addition to a Nickel-metal hybrid battery, they use less fuel than classic cars, thanks to the NiMH battery.

Now let’s get into different types of hybrid batteries. There exist 3 main types of hybrid batteries.

Lithium-ion Batteries

Today, this type of battery is common in plug-in hybrids, and all-electric vehicles. Features like a high power-to-weight ratio, and a good performance rating even at high temperatures make these types of batteries helpful. Smaller Li-Ion batteries are more efficient. Larger batteries will be subject to overheating, if electromagnetic radiation is improperly absorbed. That’s something researchers are working on. They are trying to upgrade manufacturing technology for Li-Ion batteries. Among the drawbacks of these kinds of batteries we can refer to their high cost.

Nickel-metal Hybrid Battery

These kinds of batteries are used in hybrids and fully electric vehicles. They enjoy a long life cycle and are highly tolerant of abuse. But they have a higher discharge rate than Lithium-ion cells. Nickel-metal hybrid batteries are more cost effective.

Lead-acid Batteries

These types of batteries have been used in early hybrid models. Today, they are utilized in both all-electric cars and hybrids. They allow regenerative braking in hybrids. Lead-acid batteries are also simple to manufacture.
The drawbacks of Lead-acid batteries include lower stored energy quantity. Meanwhile, hybrid cars, environmentally friendly vehicles, and improved batteries are resulted from Lead-acid battery usage.

Also, there is another type of battery which is called Ultracapacitor. It enjoys a newer technology and stores energy in a polarized liquid. An ultracapacitor stores less but can recharge extremely quickly.

One of the shortages of a hybrid battery is its limited lifespan. Some of the hybrid batteries fail before the end of warranty period. That makes hybrid vehicle owners buy new hybrid batteries periodically. Yet, the good news is that modern batteries now available in the market are more resilient than the older ones.