In February 2014, hybrid vehicle sales accounted for 2.5% of all vehicles sold in the United States according to HybridCars.com. 2.5% seems like a small figure, but it equates to 35,611 cars or a hybrid sold every 1.5 seconds. The hybrid vehicle was created, led by the original Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, with the aim of providing an eco-friendly alternative to the regular combustion engine, but it turned into a marketing and branding exercise that slowly lost the original "green" hybrid ownership values. Hybrid vehicles first appeared to create super-efficient cars to combat rising fuel costs and offer more environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional combustion vehicles. The hybrid vehicle concept involves two engines at work, one is traditionally a petrol engine paired with a small battery-powered electric motor. Each manufacturer's hybrid powertrain varies, but the main benefit gained from adding an electric motor and battery pack is that the electric motor adds free power from the car's battery pack to aid in acceleration, and the batteries are recharged normally driving with a petrol engine and during deceleration and braking using "regenerative braking". Hybrids were originally designed to get as much MPG as possible out of small, economical cars to get the most bang for your buck.! I remember seeing the Honda Insight for the first time on the road in 2000, thinking it was something special with a purpose in mind, to be the most fuel efficient vehicle. Proudly earned an EPA rating of 70 MPG, looked like nothing else, was made in the same factory as the Honda/Acura NSX supercar, built from lightweight, advanced aluminum p...... middle of paper... ... is the effort to extract natural resources from the earth to produce batteries.! The introduction of more commercially available diesel and fully electric vehicles has started to have an impact on the sales figures of hybrids, which surprises me due to the natural shortcomings that the hybrid vehicle must overcome to be most effective both in terms of savings environmental and cost savings for the end user. I believe that some combustion cars offer equal if not greater environmental and economic savings than hybrid vehicles. I believe this because the process of manufacturing and disposing of batteries is very harmful to the earth and the longevity of the parts is less than that of a normal vehicle. Additionally, if you measure environmental impact by comparing fuel consumption, many diesel cars are capable of achieving higher miles per gallon than similar hybrid vehicles.