A quick guide to different types of ev

There are a few types of ev on the market currently, these are either battery only sometimes, called a BEV, (battery electric vehicle) or one of the following other configurations.

You can get hybrid vehicles or HEV, these usually have no external means of charging, they do have a battery which is usually quite small in capacity, the battery is charged by the engine, or regenerative breaking, they usually have a very short electric only mode and are designed to use electric in harmony with the engine to complement the performance and efficiency.

Then you have a Plug in hybrid vehicle or PHEV, these are much the same as a hybrid vehicle just with the added plugin component, they have a greater ev only range but work in much the same way to complement the combustion engine.

Very much like PHEV are vehicles that are called range extenders, these vehicles run primarily on electric and when low on power have a small ice engine that operates as a generator, the size of the combustion engine is small in comparison to a PHEV as its only needed to top up the battery until you can get to a charge point to plug in.

Similar to PHEV in a way are range extenders or EREV, these are primarily BEV but have a small combustion engine to power a generator to top up the electric in the battery or can hold the charge level of the battery, they don't usually have a very large capacity battery but give you piece of mind that if you cant find a charge point you can use petrol to continue your journey till you get to your destination or charge point.

Hydrogen powered vehicles are in essence still an ev, as they take the hydrogen liquid/gas pass it through fuel cell to create electricity and water as a byproduct.

Some examples of these types of vehicle you may of heard of :

Nissan LEAF, Tesla model S = BEV
Toyota Prius = HEV
Hyundai Ioniq, Mitsubishi Outlander = PHEV
BMW i3 = Range extender vehicle (REX) or extended range electric vehicle (E-REV)
Toyota Mirai = Hydrogen

Manufactures often make ice versions of their cars especially the PHEV ranges, the Nissan leaf is only available as electric and BEV at that, likewise for Tesla vehicles they are all bev only vehicles.

The Mitsubishi Outlander, Hyundai IONIQ, Kia Optima, BMW 3 series all have ice versions of the car.

One little note I would like to make as I have an interest in towing, weather that be trailer or caravan, you are limited to only a few electric vehicles that are rated for towing, they are Tesla model X, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Mercedes E350e and Kia Optima Sportswagon PHEV.

image courtesy of www.solarjourneyusa.com