Automotive Technician Vocab to Know: Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles (EVs) – Electric vehicles (EVs) are any vehicle that relies on electricity to operate. EVs can be all-electric (they run only on electricity) or hybrid (they run on both electricity and gas). Common acronyms you may see are BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles), PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles), or HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicles)! 

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) – Battery electric vehicles (BEV) are any EV that use a battery as its source of fuel. There are a variety of batteries used in electric vehicles, such as lithium-ion batteries, which can be charged and store power to allow for the vehicle to run.

Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) – A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is a vehicle that relies on being connected to the electric power grid to recharge (refuel) its battery. As with regular BEVs, the battery is then used as the source of power to operate the vehicle.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) – Hybrid electric vehicles are any vehicle that relies on multiple sources of fuel to operate, with electricity almost always being one of the sources. For example, this could mean a car that uses both a battery and gasoline as its energy source for its operation.

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) – Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are any vehicle that relies on both electricity and gasoline to operate. This means that they have both an internal combustion engine and a rechargeable battery as fuel sources.