In their quest for better economic and environmental parameters, manufacturers of mobile work machines are pioneering new machine propulsion principles, including hybrid drives. The potential of these hybrid drives to significantly reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions and to meet the stringent environmental requirements of EU legislative activities is a promising development. Current experience confirms that this approach in the drive concept is also relevant in this machine group. The paper delves into the possibilities of implementing hybrid drives in the construction of mobile work machines, the specification of their selection criteria, the appropriate drive architecture, and the creation of a comprehensive methodology for the design of the type of hybrid drive for a specific group and type of mobile work machine.