Electric Vehicle (EV)
An electric vehicle is one that uses electricity to power its motor(s). This electricity can be sourced from batteries or sourced from solar panels, fuel cells and range-extender engines. Electric vehicles typically produce no emissions from operation making them an environmentally-friendly alternative to petrol vehicles.
Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
A battery electric vehicle is an electric vehicle that uses a battery as its only or primary power source. Examples include the Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)
A hybrid electric vehicle is one that uses electricity combined with a secondary source, almost always a petrol or diesel engine. Standard hybrid electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, are not covered in this site as they do no plug in and therefore are reliant on petrol. Hybrid electric vehicles that do plug in are called plug in hybrids.
Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV)
A plug-in hybrid is a electric hybrid that has the capability to receive electricity from an external power source via plugging in. Some plug-in hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid (on trial in Victoria) cannot operate without the use of a petrol engine under normal conditions. Other plug-in hybrids, such as the Holden Volt, are able to operate without the use of a petrol engine and as such are occasionally referred to as range-extended electric vehicles as they are able to operate like a normal EV. Holden's own marketing refers to the vehicle as "long-range electric", which is an equivocal term. In most PHEVs, the engine does not power the wheels directly, rather it is used as a generator for the batteries. This has the benefit of providing a consistent driving experience as well as using less components.
Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV)
Neighborhood electric vehicles are a US Government category of electric vehicles that are limited to roads with speed limits of less than 72km/h. Most of these vehicles, however, have top speeds of around 50km/h. NEVs are exempt from many safety regulations and taxes due to their low speeds and limited operation. Pike Research estimated there were 478,771 NEVs on the world roads in 2011 and by this time, market leader GEM (Global Electric Motorcars) had sold more than 45,000 units worldwide. In Europe, a similar category exists called the heavy quadricycle. In France, some of these vehicles can be driven without a license.
Range Anxiety
Range anxiety is a term used to describe the fear of running out of battery charge whilst driving an electric vehicle. The term is often used by opponents of electric vehicles to point out the relatively low range of an electric vehicle. In reality, however, this is not an issue. While it is true that the average electric car sold in Australia today has a range of around 160km on a single charfe and the avarage range of a petrol car sold in Australia has a range of 450-800km on a single tank, the average Australian drives less than 40km a day. This, combined with home charging which can be done whilst you are sleeping, means that electric cars are suitable for the everyday needs of most Australians. As one reviewer from the Wall Street Journal puts it: "The vast majority of Americans drive less than 40 miles [64 km] per day. The LEAF goes twice that far with room to spare (also, Nissan engineers have built a small fudge factor into the charge meter, much like a gas tank's reserve fuel) ... For the record, I logged more than 80 miles [128 km] on the LEAF and still had about 20 per cent charge in reserve. What anxiety?"
Banner photograph (cc-by-2.0) Fiona Bradley