Looks like our generation is “driving” into the future where emission-free cars will be as a matter of course, and not the piece of luxury. The future where all-electric and plug-in hybrids prevail on the road. The future where everyone knows what is EV, PHEV, HEV, BEV, ER-EV, and takes it for granted. But as for now, electric cars are the matter of “woooooow!”, and a subject for photo shooting by every person going by or driving by on a traditional car.

Most of happy owners of electric autos do not even imagine changing back to a conventional fuel car and traditional driving. But actually, most of average car drivers don’t know much about electric cars and are still fuzzy about electric vehicle types, engines and basic electromobility things.

EV, PHEV, HEV – so what each of them is all about?

Generally, there are all-electric cars (EV), hybrid electric cars (HEV), and plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEV).

All-electric cars: operate on electricity exclusively; equipped with one or more electric motors for propulsion; use the rechargeable battery packs
Example: all-electric BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S

Hybrid cars: mostly powered by regular internal combustion engine; electric motor starts to operate when extra power is needed; the car can use two propulsion means separately or at the same time; electric engine is converting and storing energy in the battery acting as a generator
Example: BMW Concept 7 Series ActiveHybrid – mild hybrid, BMW Concept X6 ActiveHybrid – full hybrid, Toyota Prius – full hybrid

Plug-in hybrid cars: equipped with the combustion engine and electric motor; mostly powered by electric motor, as a primary source of power; the internal combustion engine acts as the backup; rechargeable battery can be charged by plugging in to a power source
Example: plug-in hybrid BMW i8 Continue reading →