EMF level inside a hybrid car compared to talking on cell phone?

I don't see how you can compare microwaves from a cell phone with the much, much lower frequencies generated by the electric motor/generator and battery charger/inverter, especialy when the latter devices are intentionally designed, mostly for efficiency reasons, to not leak magnetic fields, and they're substantially shielded by the metal of the trunk, floor, and engine compartment. Non-hybrid cars also generate EMF, namely from the alternator, starter, and, except in diesels, the ignition system.

Frankly, your priorities are misplaced, and you should ignore insignificant hazards, like EMF from hybrid cars or even from cell phones, and concentrate on avoiding the much more serious ones, such as using a cell phone or manipulating a car stereo while driving.

As "beerspill" observes: no cause to worry. The electronic and electrical bits inside the Prius, for example, seem very solidly shielded. The car's own radio runs quietly, without indications of interference, both on AM and FM bands. CDs play very nicely.

BTW, "EMF" conventionally abbreviates "Electro-Magnetic Force". Engineers use it to denote the voltage which can be considered to drive current through a circuit, effectively the no-load voltage measured at the terminals of the power source. Electromagnetic waves, as such, don't usually merit their own acronym.

Maybe you meant "EMP"[*]? Yes, _that_ would be something.

[* : "Electro-Magnetic Pulse", a usually large and abrupt change in ambient electrical/magnetic field, generally associated with extreme events like lightning strikes and nuclear explosions.]

Why do you care? You made of metal or something? (rolls eyes)

Claims of health hazards due to exposure to EMF have been, to put it charitably, greatly exaggerated. Both the original Denver study in 1979 which linked power lines to childhood leukemia and the more recent study linking cell phone use to brain tumors were both flat-out wrong, both scientifically and statistically.

Living near a power line exposes you to a magnetic field of about 2 milligauss (mG). Walking directly under one exposes you to about 200 mG. Walking perpendicular to the earth's magnetic field exposes you to about 400 mG.

To answer your question, hybrids use direct current (DC) power, which do not give rise to any magnetic fields or induced current at all.

You'd better go home and put plugs in all of your light sockets at home. They're leaking electricity all over the house - you could be killed.

-- Mike Harris Austin TX

Current flowing through any conductor produces electric and magnetic fields, be it AC or DC. In the case of magnetic - this is how solenoids work, and electromagnets. And motors. Hall effect sensors.

Dont hybrids contain high voltage components - hence the worries about safety in crashes - and usually high voltage areas are AC, as a general rule? (Correct me if im wrong, ive never seen a hybrid or looked into their innerds yet).

However I agree, the OP should stop worrying or live in a lead lined faraday cage for the rest of his life.

Now if only we could focus it and channel it to the radar/laser speed trap gubbins...

I must correct myself. That should read "Electro-Motive Force".

(Isn't that always how it goes -- try to be a Fount Of Knowledge and some of it splashes the wrong way. *sigh*)