Well - not 100% correct
There are many types, but there are two who most use
The first one: (eco friendly with LONG milage)
One is made with a small gasoline or diesel engine powered generator that run at a slow speed, only charging a huge battery(it turns on automaticly if/when needed). That battery is used for driving the electrical motors that drive the car.
The reason for this setup is, the engine running the generator can run at almost the same pace and dont waste fuel by running in idle or to high rews. The electric motors can produce a very high power output to accelerate the car, and then it really just need to use a little power to keep the car rolling.
What the electic moter does here, would be like a V8 engine who use all 8 cylinders to accelerate, and then switch off the 4 cylinders when it have reache the wanted speed, to save gas.
The other - sporty cars
Some cars like a few Lexus and BMW's have a strong small engine, and then it have a electrical engine located inside the wheel. So when you need the strong acceleration, you get a LOT of power. The lexus goes from 0-100km/t in 6,4 sec, wich is really fast for a family car. Without the electic motors it would spend about 8-9 sec and use a load of gass to get that acceleration
But since the engine is smaller than the competition, it saves you a lot of gass on the daily commuter drive
The next generation
the newest thing, is toytas "Toyota Hybrid System" (ths)
That is a consept they plan to implement in all the small to midsize cars.
Its working by having a electrical engine for the normal driving, acceleration and also breaking (it use the braking energy to charge the battery)
But if you need more power for a long hill, heavy haul ect, the little engine switch on and helps with the load.
I hope all this made sence with my poor english :)
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