Understanding Electric Vehicle Jargon: A Comprehensive Glossary

AC, DC, MHEV, PHEV, kWh… these are not randomly generated letters. Meet the jargon EV terms that look like a frankenstein physician’s ultimate mnemonics. With EVs about to take over the world, it becomes necessary for us to know the nitty-gritty of these terms. That’s why YallaMotor is here with its quintessential EV glossary that explains all the EV terms that need to be understood by the layman.

The Basics: EV, BEV, PHEV, MHEV, FCEV, ICE

Let’s start with the basics:

• EV: Electric Vehicle.
• PHEV: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. This hybrid's battery can be charged by plugging it in like a normal EV.
• MHEV: Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle. This has a small electric motor that assists the gasoline engine, charged by regenerative braking and other energy sources.
• BEV: Battery Electric Vehicle - a 100% battery-powered electric vehicle.
• FCEV: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, often associated with Toyota, which uses hydrogen to generate electricity.
• ICE: Internal Combustion Engine vehicle, which represents traditional gasoline-powered cars.

FCEVs, like the Toyota Mirai, use a fuel cell to generate electricity that powers an on-board motor. ICE vehicles, on the other hand, are the cars that we will miss in the coming years… *SOB*.

For Charging: AC and DC

Before you let your inner Brian Johnson unleash, let us clarify that we aren’t talking about the famous AC/DC band here. We’re discussing two types of electric currents:

• AC: Alternating Current.
• DC: Direct Current.

Transmitting an alternating current with high voltage is easier than a direct current, as less energy is lost during transmission. However, an electric car needs to convert AC to DC before charging its batteries, which increases the charging time of an EV plugged into an AC socket. This is why companies like Tesla are rolling out DC rapid chargers, which are more efficient when used locally with fewer transmission losses.

The Power Brothers: kW and kWh

Those of you who attended science classes will know that:

• kW: Kilowatt, which is 1000 watts and measures power in an electric car. In the future, kW may replace horsepower.
• kWh: Kilowatt-hour, the unit of energy equivalent to the energy transferred in one hour by one kilowatt of power. EV battery packs are measured in kWh, representing an electric car's fuel tank, but not in liters.