Glossary: What is a Hybrid Car?

hybridcarAs hybrid cars gain in popularity, many people find themselves asking “What is a hybrid car?” To answer this question, we are supplying a mini lexicon of hybrid car terms and hybrid car technology terms. Let this be a foundation that you can build upon as you learn more about what hybrid vehicle technology is all about.

AT-PZEV –
This stands for Advanced Technology – Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle. These are vehicles that meet the requirements for the California’s Air Resource Board for no fuel evaporative emissions, SULEV exhaust emissions, 150,000 mile durability emissions and extended warranties for emissions systems.

BEV - This stands for Battery Electric Vehicle. Battery electric vehicles make use of an electrical motor as its primary power source. The electricity that powers the motor is stored within a battery pack, and the battery pack has to be recharged using a standard electrical source of power.

EV – This stands for Electric Vehicle. Electric vehicles are vehicles that make use of electric motors as their power source. Some examples of EVs include trams, some trains and metros.

FCEV - This stands for Fuel Cell Vehicle. Fuel cell vehicles are electrical vehicles that make use of hydrogen fuel in place of a battery for the purpose of producing electricity. There aren’t any moving parts, but rather the fuel cell will utilize a catalyst in order to perform the necessary chemical process, combining oxygen and hydrogen in order to create electricity.

HEV 20 - This is a hybrid car that has an All Electric Range of 20 miles.

Hybrid Car - This is a vehicle that makes use of two different resources of power, such as gasoline as well as electricity. The hybrid cars of today combine gasoline based engines with electrical motors and battery packs.

NEV – This stands for Neighborhood Electric Vehicle. These are electric vehicles that operate below the speed of an average highway, and thusly are not meant to be used on busy roads or highways.

Type I Hybrid - These are low voltage and low power hybrid vehicles according to the Air Resources Board in California. This is designed to be an industry standard improvement for standard 12 volt systems in all normal, conventional style cars. They are only capable of being called hybrids if they are capable of providing any traction power to the wheels, while offering regenerative braking as well as an idle stop featuring turning the engine off during stops.

Type II Hybrid - This is a high voltage and low power hybrid car, also known as being an assist hybrid or a mild hybrid based on the same definition as the Type I Hybrid, only these Type II hybrids do not allow for electric-only driving.

Photo Credits: charlesdyer

Originally posted 2009-10-05 03:04:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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