Different types of electric vehicles that are available in the market and you should know about

Electric vehicles are a talk of the town right now, and we might find them plying on our streets within the next few years. Even today, we can find a number of electric vehicles on our streets but the number is very few. But, if you are enthusiastic about electric vehicles, and is planning to get one now, or at some point in time, later, you should know about the different kinds of electric vehicles available in the market, so that you can make your decision in a better way. Electric vehicles are eco-friendly, and going for electric vehicle will not only be friendly to your pocket, but also to the environment.

If you want to know more about whether you should go for an electric vehicle, as per your requirements, you can follow this article: Things you should know before buying an electric vehicle.

But today I will talk about the different categories of electric vehicles you should always go for, or the most appropriate one, depending upon your driving habits and the driving range that you want from the vehicles as per your everyday requirements. Basically, there are three kinds of electric vehicles available and they are battery Battery Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electic Vehicles, and Extended-Range Electric Vehicles.

Now, let’s find out, how the different types of electric vehicles work which one will be beneficial for you depending upon how they run on the streets.

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)

Battery electric vehicles aka. Pure Electric Vehicles are those vehicles that can run only on batteries to run the motor, which eventually helps you drive.

Battery Electric type of vehicles need to be charged from a normal power outlet using a charger and once the battery completely discharged, you have to recharge it again to start driving. Battery electric vehicles are 100% electric vehicles, as they can’t be powered in any other way.

Battery electric vehicles have a range of almost 150 to 300 Kms, on a single charge and the range of battery electric vehicles is significantly improving with time. Battery Electric Vehicles are good for driving in shorter ranges if you want to commute from your home to your place of work or want to travel short distances within a city or town.

So, if you aren’t looking for something robust, Battery Electric Vehicles cater to the needs of the majority of riders out there.

Tesla Model 3, BMW i3, Volkswagen e-Golf, Toyota Rav4, Chevy Spark, Nissan LEAF are some examples of Battery Electric Vehicles.

Plug-in Hybrid Electic Vehicles (PHEVs)

As the name suggests, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are a category of hybrid vehicles. This type of electric vehicles can run on both electricity and diesel or petrol to increase the overall range of driving.

If the battery discharges after riding a certain distance, it can later run using the petrol or diesel engine onboard, which will eventually improve the overall range of the vehicle. To ride again using the battery power, you need to charge the vehicle again using some power source.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles or PHEVs will also charge the battery using regenerative braking when it is running on fuel power.

There are even some vehicles, which have the ability to automatically choose between battery power or fuel power, depending upon your driving speed and other factors.

For example, if you are riding in an area with very high traffic, which is putting a lot of stress on the DC motor, it can automatically switch to fuel power so that battery power can be retained. Fuel engine will also be used, if you want to ride fast, as in such cases, relying on battery power might be efficient, and thus, the vehicle will automatically switch to fuel power. Whether the vehicle will run on battery power or fuel power at a certain point, will be decided by the onboard computer.

The fuel engine on hybrid vehicles has low emissions, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can be the best option if you are looking for a slight increase in range compared to that of battery electric vehicles.

A few PHEVs are Audi A3 E-Tron, Mercedes GLE550e, BMW 330e, Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid, Toyota Prius, etc.

Extended-Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs)

Another type of electric vehicle is extended-range electric vehicles at those vehicles, which run on an electric motor, which is powered by the onboard battery, primarily the same as that of battery electric vehicles. However, in the case of extended-release electric vehicles, the range of the vehicle can also be increased by charging the battery using a fuel-powered generator.

The generator can offer some additional driving range to the external electric vehicles, and thus, the name. As these vehicles come with range extenders, you can get a better driving range with these vehicles, making them somewhat better than that of pure EVs.

In most cases, the additional range provided by the diesel generator is somewhat less than that of the actual range of the battery when it is charged using electricity. For example, if you are getting 200 Km driving range on a full battery, you can get around 125 Km, which will eventually add up to 325 Km, if you charge the battery using the diesel generator on board. Thus, just like hybrid vehicles, EREVs also run on battery power, but the fact that the battery can also be charged using a secondary source makes them extended-range electric vehicles.

EREVs has a lot of potentials, and the fact that they can be charged en-route makes them quite promising for those who want to cover larger distances, but don’t want to opt for hybrid electric vehicles.

Furthermore, EREV vehicles feature brake regeneration technology, in which every time when a drive press the pedals of the car to slow down it, the vehicle’s kinetic energy is regenerated by the vehicle drivetrain to give some charge to the batteries. For example- BMW i3 and i8 use the same principle. 

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As the electric vehicles need to go through more evolutions and improvements in the days to come, going for a battery-electric vehicle if you are looking for a robust performance might not be the best bet for you. However, if you don’t ride your vehicle a lot, and sometimes go out with your family and use it for some everyday work, battery electric vehicles can be a good option and if not that, hybrid electric vehicles can be the best choice for most users out there.

Hybrid vehicles, mostly the modern once can automatically switch between fuel and battery power to run on the streets, and that’s why hybrid electric vehicles can offer you a balanced performance. 

Depending on why you want to use your electric vehicle, you can even go for electric vans, which can be used for a domain of applications. In spite of the differences between the different electric vehicles, the basic thing that is common in all the electric vehicles is that they are eco-friendly and hardly leave a carbon footprint, which makes electric vehicles a great deal, if you want to save the environment.

So those were the differences between the different categories of electric vehicles, which you should obviously know. Do you have any questions about electric vehicles, that aren’t answered here yet! Feel free to comment on the same below.