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A large number of people nowadays are turning towards alternative options to driving conventional gas powered cars, and as a result, hybrid cars are catching a lot of limelight. Hybrid cars or cars that use two or more sources of power to provide propulsion use an electric battery apart from a gas engine to provide running power.  Since it uses more than one source of power apart from gasoline, a hybrid car saves its owners a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on gas. While most people buy or plan to buy hybrid cars in order to save on gasoline, there are many other benefits involved with owning and buying a hybrid car.

Tax Breaks and Benefits: One of the main benefits of buying a hybrid car in 2008 is that hybrid car buyers will be able to avail tax benefits.  While the federal government is offering tax breaks on different hybrid cars till the year 2010 based on the amount of gasoline that they save and their environment friendliness, many states have also started providing tax breaks and other perks like free parking and HOV access etcetera. You can check with local authorities to find out about the tax incentives and perks that you can avail on your hybrid car.

Save Money On Gas: Hybrid cars save their owners a lot of gas money.  Many new hybrids provide a mileage of around 55 to 60 miles per gallon to their owners, while some even increase the mpg by 30 miles per gallon.  Even mild hybrids, where the role of the electric motor is limited save at least 4 to 6 miles per gallon for their owners. With gas prices slated to go up in the future, hybrid cars are a good option for everybody nowadays.

Do Your Bit Against Global Warming and Increasing Pollution: Apart from saving you loads of money that you would otherwise spend on gas with a normal car, the hybrid car also plays its part in saving the planet. Since hybrid cars keep alternating between electric and gas power, they use less gas than conventional cars. At the same time, the car does not produce any harmful emissions when running on electric power, thus cutting down on total emission. Most hybrid cars emit considerably lower amounts of greenhouse gases and cause less pollution when compared to normal cars. This is one of the main reasons why governments all over are encouraging the use of hybrid cars. These cars produce lower levels of noise pollution too, since the gas engine shuts off automatically whenever the car is stationary.

Get Increased Performance: Gone are the days when cars that run on alternative energy sources were slowpokes and rated nowhere on the performance meters. Today’s hybrids like the Lexus GS450h and the Honda Accord Hybrid are cars that combine both sources of power to provide performance par measure to their users.