Cars: Hybrid ! ?

(Article contributed courtesy of Mr Darren How, images by Rodney, courtesy of Google Images)

I'm quite an idiot when it comes to many things, but I'm a complete moron when it comes to cars.

Take for example the fact that a normal car can sit only two or three persons side by side, but a bus can take four in a row plus more standing, yet both cars and buses occupy the same narrow lane on the road. Never really understood how that's possible.

So when a friend told me about hybrid cars, I went: hybrid what? You mean a car that's able to convert into a duck and swim? That's very clever.

Of course, the clever one wasn't me.

I was not done, because apparently I went on to ask even dumber questions. You see, a hybrid car or hybrid anything is completely new to me.

When I heard that it runs on electricity, I wondered: do you have to charge your car like how your charge your mobile phone?

If so, do you drive into a docking station? Insert a wire instead of a petrol pump into the side of the car?

When it runs out of power, does the car give out a warning beep in the dying seconds like Ultraman?

The first model was launched by Renault in 2003. Soon the Toyotas, Hondas and Peugeots of the world followed suit with their own. The last time I checked, prices of hybrids are already comparable with those of normal vehicles.

I went Wikipedia to search for more answers. It threw me technical terms like PHEV, RESS and ICE to further confuse me. Didn't quite help.

But it also tells me what I now already know: that a hybrid saves fuel and is set to become more popular around the world.

I find that I'm exactly back to where I started. In my fantasy world, a hybrid car is still a cross between man and machine who talks like the one in Knight Rider.