Since the recession. Americans seem to be much more accustomed to trimming their budgets and looking for ways to pinch pennies. One of the most common expenses that gets scrutinized is the money that people spend on gas, which seems to be getting increasingly expensive — even though it’s something that millions of Americans depend on every single day. People can turn to public transport, but more and more people are also looking into hybrid or electric cars.

As of now, a fully electric car doesn’t really seem to be a priority for many Americans, likely due to confusion or misunderstandings about how they run, how charging works, and they are a bit pricey. Hybrids are emerging as a sort of half step between traditional internal combustion engine cars and the completely electric ones — both in technology and in price.

But how do hybrids get such great fuel economy? Hybrid fuel economy is so good because hybrids don’t just run from one power source — they run from two. This is why they are called hybrid cars. There is a gasoline source that any driver is familiar with — this is what a person puts in the car at the pump. Car owners should also keep up with the Mileage Interval Service their car needs to maintain fuel efficiency.

The second source of power is the hybrid battery, which the engine runs from some of the time. The hybrid car batteries work is referred to as “regenerative braking,” that is, when the driver applies the brakes, some of the energy created by the battery goes back into it. This means that hybrid cars are not always burning fuel all the time, saving the owner on gas. The car switches between the two power sources so seamlessly that it’s nearly impossible to notice when it happens.

Do you have any questions about how hybrid batteries work? Let us know in the comments.