When any new technology comes around, it drags with it the baggage of jargon that we all have to learn, lest we end up like that man on the bus who never worked out what a tracker mortgage was.
Whoever thought about what a megapixel might be before mobile phones became cameras? And did any of us know what a megabit was before it became the defining aspect of home internet?
Electric cars are no different, and they come with a whole new set of ideas and concepts that anyone used to MPG and BHP is going to have to come to terms with. Which is where we can help. Here’s a handy breakdown of all the new words and terms you’ll need for the electric car future.
BEV? Or EV?
Basically, these are the same thing, as the acronyms stand for battery electric vehicle and electric vehicle. For most of us the terms are interchangeable, but within the motor industry, they’re not – battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is what car engineers call an electric car, whereas technically an electric vehicle can refer to any type of electrification, from hybrid power to hydrogen. However, for most mere mortals, they’re the same.
RM Block
ICE
This stands for internal combustion engine or, to you or me, a diesel or petrol car with no electric bits at all, which is what we’re supposed to be moving away from as BEVs and EVs become more popular. It’s a bit confusing for any audiophiles, who would have previously read this acronym as in-car entertainment.
HEV, PHEV, MHEV
These are all different kinds of hybrid. A HEV is a hybrid electric vehicle, or what might be called a “full hybrid”, such as a Toyota Corolla, which has a petrol engine with a small electric motor and battery that’s more economical than a conventional petrol-only engine.
A PHEV is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which is a car that mixes petrol (occasionally diesel) and electric power with a big battery, which can be charged up from the mains, and which can drive on electric power alone, usually for between 50km and 100km, depending on the model – a Hyundai Santa Fe is a good example of this. An MHEV is a mild-hybrid electric vehicle, which is a petrol or diesel car that gets a very small battery and a starter/generator instead of an old-fashioned alternator. An MHEV – a Ford Puma is a good example – can be a bit more economical than a conventional engine, but calling it a hybrid is a bit much; it’s really a beefed-up stop-start system.
REX or REEV
This is where it gets a bit confusing, because technically these are hybrids. REX – range extender (the X is just there to make it easier to pronounce) – or REEV – range extender electric vehicle – are a bit like a plug-in hybrid, in that they have a medium-sized battery which charges up from the mains and which gives you a reasonably long electric range, and they have a petrol engine on board for longer journeys, but that petrol engine never actually drives the car; it’s only there as a generator to top up the battery.
Horsepower
The kilowatt, named after James Watt, the steam-power pioneer, is a measure of power. In many countries, the power of an internal combustion engine is already measured in kilowatts. We’re kind of stuck in a slight postcolonial use of horsepower – a kilowatt is equal to 1.36hp as it happens – and the power of an electric motor is also measured this way. Hence Volkswagen’s ID line-up uses a 286hp electric motor, whose power output in kilowatts is a much neater 210kW.
We also measure the electrical power output of a charging point in kilowatts. A regular three-pin home socket has an output of around 2.3kW. A home EV charging point will generally run at 7.4kW. A charger running on three-phase “industrial” power can go up to 11kW or even 22kW in some cases. Then we get into higher-powered direct current (DC) chargers, which are the really fast ones. In the early days of EV charging, the fast chargers were rated at about 50kW, but we’ve left that behind now, and the most powerful chargers can now output as much as 350-400kW, with higher powers expected in the coming years.
Slow, fast, or rapid charging
All of which translates into whether you’re charging at slow, fast or rapid speeds. Slow generally means AC power between 2.3kW and 22kW. Fast usually means above 22kW but below 150kW, likely on DC. Rapid means anything above 150kW on DC power.
kWh
This is where things can get confusing because kWh is not the same as kW. kW is the power, but kWh – kilowatt-hour – is the amount of energy stored in the battery. In its basic terms, a kilowatt-hour is the simplest measurement of the transfer of energy from one place to another. So, if you have a heater at home that has 1kW power output, and turn it on for one hour, that’s 1KWh you’ve used. It’s how electricity is metered in your home, and it’s also how we measure the energy stored in your car’s battery. Essentially, the kWh is like the amount of litres your fuel tank holds.
As a handy rule of thumb, a 30-50kWh battery would be considered quite small, and would likely only give a range of around 250-300km, depending on the car. A battery of between 50kWh and 60kWh would be more medium sized and likely have a range of around 400km. A battery of 60-75kWh will give a range of around 450-500km, depending on the car, and above 75kWh you’re looking at potential ranges of beyond 550km.
kWh/100km
Well, if kWh is how much your “fuel” tank holds, then kWh/100km is the measure of how fast your electric car burns through that “fuel”. Basically, kWh/100km is the electric equivalent of miles per gallon or litres per 100km, and it’s a measure of how much battery energy your car will use to travel 100km.
The official energy consumption figure, as with fuel consumption, is measured buy the WLTP, or world harmonised light duty test protocol laboratory test. This gives you a useful comparison of how economical one car is compared to another, but just as with fuel consumption, your “real world” experience may be very different. That kWh/100km figure is hugely variable according to where you’re driving, how you’re driving, and what the weather is like.
As a rule of thumb, any EV that returns between 16 and 18kWh/100km efficiency in real-world conditions is considered to be fairly economical. You can think of this as being roughly equivalent to 35-40mpg. Anything below that figure is more economical, anything above that figure is less economical.
AD/DC
No, not the band. AC is alternating current, and it’s the electricity that’s delivered to your home. In EV terms, AC means slow, or at least slowish charging speeds, usually up to 7.4kW, or 11 or 22kW if you’re using a kerbside or car-park charger, depending on the location. For high-speed charging points, you need direct current or DC power, which allows for charging power of up to 400kW now, and much more again in the future, but which also requires heavy-duty cabling and sometimes a local substation or transformer to be installed.
Type 2
This is the basic European standard charging cable, and if you buy a new EV or PHEV, you’ll almost certainly find one in the boot. A Type 2 cable is for AC (that’s slow; see above) charging, and it comes with different-sized connectors at each end. The slimmer end plugs into the charging point, while the chunkier end is the one that attaches to your car.
CCS
CCS, or combined charging system, is the European standard for rapid DC charging. You’ll recognise a CCS connector from its double-decker layout, where the upper half is the same as the Type 2 plug (see above) and the lower half gains a couple of extra connections. This design allows it to deliver the high power outputs needed for fast charging, and a fast charger will have its CCS plug permanently connected – you don’t need to carry one around with you in the boot.
Charging port
The modern EV equivalent of the fuel filler – this is where you connect your Type 2 or CCS cable to charge up your car. The charging port locations vary from car to car – some have it in the traditional fuel filler position at the rear of the car, on the left or right, while others have it on the front wheel arch, and a few have the charging port mounted in what would be the radiator grille. Audi even fits two charging ports to some of its electric models, one on each side of the front of the car, with AC Type 2 charging on both sides, but CCS fast charging only on the right-hand side.
Your charging port will be behind a flap cover, but once you open that, there will usually be a secondary weatherproof cover over the actual connector – open or remove the top bit for AC charging with a Type 2 cable, and open or remove the bottom bit for CCS rapid charging.
Regen
Regen is short for regenerative braking. It’s the braking effect caused by the electric motor or motors of an EV, and it can be profound. Indeed, many car makers are now fitting less powerful mechanical brakes, especially at the rear of a car, simply because the regenerative effect can take care of more than 90 per cent of a car’s braking needs. In many models, this effect can be adjusted through a series of steps from full-on braking to a total stop, down to completely freewheeling.
