Maintaining Hybrid Vehicles
Recent environmental changes have created great awareness regarding nature and man’s effect on it. With regards to to their humongous popularity as environment saving cars, the sales of hybrid vehicles was bound to increase. As their hybrid nature and changed dynamics of these cars makes them different from the traditional gasoline and diesel propelled vehicles, people have quite a few questions related to the maintenance of these vehicles. In this article, we have tried to answer some of the most frequently asked questions on the maintenance of hybrid vehicles.
As most of the commercially produced hybrid vehicles are available in the electric and gasoline combination, they are more common among masses as compared to other high technological counterparts like hydrogen and methanol hybrid cars. Routine maintenance of these (gasoline hybrid) vehicles differs slightly from that of the traditional non-hybrid vehicles. These differences are very apparent in the way we deal with the systems that controls the on-board storage batteries and the additional electric motors. Otherwise, the routine maintenance of hybrid vehicles is pretty much the same as that for a non-hybrid automobile.
Conditions like light cruising and low speed maneuvering cause a hybrid vehicle to switch to electric motor for its propulsion. Therefore, we can conclude that the engine of a hybrid vehicle does not have to work very hard and thus a reduced wear and tear. Further, hybrid vehicles often use regenerative braking systems; these systems perform the dual function of charging the batteries and reducing the wear on the brake components.
As far as the maintenance of your hybrid vehicle goes, you can change out fuel, spark plugs, air filters and check the transmission fluid. While the drive train of a hybrid vehicle is significantly different from that of a traditional non-hybrid vehicle it can still be serviced, if done carefully. Further, because of the manner in which the internal combustion engine, the transmission, and the electric drive motor are mated together to work almost as one entity, a malfunction of one of these components can significantly affect the way others function perform. Therefore, any serious diagnosis, troubleshooting, and repair of this system should be left to the professionals.
If you are performing a regular maintenance on the engine cooling system of your hybrid vehicle, ensure that you check the individual clamps, hoses, and pipes. Also check the additional filters that are possibly used on the battery and motor heating/cooling system of your vehicle. Kindly leave alone the complex electronic modules that are responsible for controlling the electric drive motor of your vehicle’s propulsion and regenerative braking systems.
Hybrid vehicles are typically equipped with dual voltage systems. Although, a considerable portion of the electrical system operates at a safe standard of 12V, the drive motor and all components related to it operate better at a voltage of more than 100 V. Be careful; as the safety threshold is narrow and low, an electrical shock of even 50 V usually proves fatal. Therefore, in order to warn the operators and the technicians of these high-voltage circuits, automobile manufacturers wrap these cables in a bright orange casing. So, if you want to safely maintain and repair these orange-cased components, ensure that you first de-power the system. This is also a task that is best left to technicians who are trained to handle and maintain hybrid vehicles.