Chapter 2

Article - http://www.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm

This article is base on the hybrid cars everyone is talking about these days. As we all know, a gas-power car (normal car) uses gas to run the car. Since the gas prices are increasing very fast, and the pollution gas cars are giving to the environment. Inventors invented the hybrid car. This kind of car uses a bit of gas, but gets most of its power from batteries. Everyone now might think, “What happens if the battery dies in the middle of driving, and get stuck in traffic?” Even for a hybrid car, it must meet a certain minimum requirements. It must at least be able to drive 300miles (482 km) between refueling the car. Also, it must be able to refuel quickly and easily, and keep up with traffics on the road. A hybrid car is made up of many different parts. It has a gasoline engine like any other cars you know, but the unique part of it in the hybrid is that the engine is smaller and uses advanced technologies to reduce emissions and increase efficiency. Another part of the hybrid car is the fuel tank, the energy storage device for the gasoline engine. Electric motor is a part of a hybrid that you won’t see on other cars often, it acts like a motor and a generator on a hybrid. A generator is another part of the hybrid; it acts similar to an electric motor, but its use to only produce electrical power. One of the best parts of a hybrid car is the batteries. Batteries are energy storage device for the electric motor and energy can be put into the batteries or withdraw from the batteries by the electric motor. Last but not least, transmissions like any other car on the road.

In chapter 2 we have learned about the elasticity and inelasticity of products. For a product to be inelasticity, it must be necessity, doesn’t have good substitutes for the product, and it’s inexpensive, and vice versa for elasticity. This article talks about the new invented hybrid cars that saves gas, and do less pollution. It shows us clearly that gasoline cars are now elastic, and the new cheap hybrid car is the new substitute for an expensive gasoline car. This also shows us that time can make a product elastic. The invention of this new hybrid car might decrease the demand for a gasoline car, because of the oil price increasing rapidly and the pollution it’s giving off to the environment. In my opinion, I don’t think I would buy a hybrid car, because I still don’t trust that the battery, because i think it might die out on you out of the blue.