Abstract
A recent turbulence in the oil market, as well as the ever-decreasing stocks of fossil fuels, has led to growth of interest in various alternative technologies like automotive hybrid vehicles. Despite the rapid increase of markets of hybrid-electric vehicles, their scope for the Gulf Corporation Council region still needs to be explored further. Awareness about benefits of using hybrid-electric vehicles is fast spreading in the Gulf Corporation Council region and this has positive impacts both in terms of consumer satisfaction and reduction of environmental pollutants. The major aim of presented work is to explore the benefits of using hybrid vehicle technology in terms of savings in cost and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions savings were found to be in a range of 9–13%. Fuel savings per 100 km were in a range of 8–10 L. The presented work discusses various issues related to background, features, and components of hybrid vehicles. Trends in the design, energy management, component sizing, energy costs, greenhouse emissions, fuel economy, and performance of these vehicles have been analyzed. Further conclusions and recommendations have been made about these issues keeping in focus market trends in the Gulf Corporation Council region.