HOW DOES A HYBRID CAR WORK?

At start-up, only the electric motor drives the wheels, therefore no fuel is consumed. You always start silently and can drive up to a speed of 130 km/h and for up to 5 minutes using only electric power, depending on your driving style and the model*.

*Austral full hybrid E‑Tech 200 hp

This mode involves the simultaneous use of two power sources to drive the vehicle.

For dynamic driving, the petrol engine backs up the electric motor to maintain performance. The two motors work together to increase the power of your car. This is what is known as parallel hybrid operation.

In some cases, when the battery level is low, the 2 motors operate at the same time, but only the electric motor drives the wheels. In this specific case, the electronic management activates the internal combustion engine to optimise the overall consumption and to recharge the battery. This is what is known as series hybrid operation.

When just the combustion engine is running, it is used at its optimal speed, to drive the vehicle’s wheels and to recharge the battery. The vehicle’s overall consumption is optimised and the additional energy is stored to help resume electric driving.

The vehicle manages switching between the electric, hybrid and combustion traction automatically using an electronic system. It takes three criteria into account, to offer the best compromise between performance and consumption:

• the demand for acceleration from the pedal;
  
• the profile of the road on which you are driving;
  
• the battery charge level.

Essentially, during start-up, during steady driving and normal acceleration, a hybrid vehicle mostly uses the electric motor. When you push down harder on the accelerator, when the nature of the terrain requires more power (e.g. for a steep climb) or when the battery is not sufficiently charged, the vehicle engages the combustion engine. Depending on the case, the combustion engine will complement the electric motor (hybrid traction) or replace it entirely (combustion engine traction).

No, it’s not possible.

A hybrid car continues to drive, even when the traction battery is depleted, by using the combustion engine. However, the opposite is not true: the hybrid and electric traction modes are there to operate alternately with the combustion mode, but not to replace it entirely. If a hybrid car has run out of petrol, the other modes of traction can only take over briefly before the car stops.

The electric battery is not always used, as the vehicle also operates using the combustion engine. The wear on the battery is therefore gradual and does not provoke a sufficient loss of capacity to prevent the vehicle from operating.

Moreover, if the vehicle is protected from extreme temperatures, particularly the cold, it can last for a hybrid vehicle’s entire life span.

The battery in a Renault hybrid vehicle is guaranteed for 8 years or 160,000 km.