_ In order to reduce air pollution and oilshortages, automobile manufacturers have announced their plans to develop hybrid vehicles   for the Chinese market. Toyota's hybrid car Prius will be ready to drive in China this week. Let's have a look at the new car. Any vehicle is a hybrid when it combines two or more sources of power. Hybrid cars run off a rechargeable battery and gasoline. Hybrid cars have special engines, which are smaller than traditional gasoline engines. They run at 99 percent of their power when the car is cruising  . A specially designed battery motor provides extra power for running up hills or when extra acceleration is needed. Step into a Prius, and turn on the engine. The first thing you notice is how much quieter it is than a traditional car. At this point, the car's gasoline engine is dormant  . The electric motor will provide power until the car reaches about 24 km/h. If you stay at a low speed, you are effectively driving an electric car, with no gasoline being used, and no waste gas gives off. The onboard  computer makes the decision about when to use a gas engine, when to go electric, and when to use a combination of the two. If you go over 24 km/h, when you step on the gas pedal  , you are actually telling the computer how fast you want to go. The electronic motor recharges automatically using a set of batteries. When driving at high speed, the gasoline engine not only powers the car, but also charges the batteries. Any time you use the brake, the electric motor in the wheels will work like a generator and produce electricity to recharge the batteries. As a consequence, the car's batteries will last for around 200,000 miles. What is the most important feature of hybrid cars?
They are powered by both a rechargeable battery and gasoline. They are much quieter than traditional cars. They only use 99 percent of their power to run up hills. They have smaller engines than traditional gasoline ones.