A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle, or better performance. A variety of types of HEV exist, and the degree to which they function as EVs varies as well. The most common form of HEV is the hybrid electric car, although hybrid electric trucks (pickups and tractors) and buses also exist.

Modern HEVs make use of efficiency-improving technologies such as regenerative braking, which converts the vehicle's kinetic energy into electric energy to charge the battery, rather than wasting it as heat energy as conventional brakes do. Some varieties of HEVs use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity by spinning an electrical generator (this combination is known as a motor-generator), to either recharge their batteries or to directly power the electric drive motors. Many HEVs reduce idle emissions by shutting down the ICE at idle and restarting it when needed; this is known as a start-stop system. A hybrid-electric produces less emissions from its ICE than a comparably-sized gasoline car, since an HEV's gasoline engine is usually smaller than a comparably-sized pure gasoline-burning vehicle (natural gas and propane fuels produce lower emissions) and if not used to directly drive the car, can be geared to run at maximum efficiency, further improving fuel economy.

Ferdinand Porsche in 1900 developed the Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid, the first gasoline-electric hybrid automobile in the world. The hybrid-electric vehicle did not become widely available until the release of the Toyota Prius in Japan in 1997, followed by the Honda Insight in 1999. While initially perceived as unnecessary due to the low cost of gasoline, worldwide increases in the price of petroleum caused many automakers to release hybrids in the late 2000s; they are now perceived as a core segment of the automotive market of the future. Worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles produced by Toyota, the market leader, reached 1.0 million vehicles by May 31, 2007; the 2.0 million mark was reached by August 31, 2009; and 3.0 million units by February 2011, with hybrids sold in 80 countries and regions. Worldwide sales are led by the Toyota Prius, with cumulative sales of 2.0 million by September 2010, and sold in 70 countries and regions. The United States is the largest hybrid market in the world, with 2 million hybrid automobiles and SUVs sold through May 2011, and California is the biggest regional American market. The Prius is the top selling hybrid car in the U.S. market with 1 million units sold by April 2011,

Terminology

Types of powertrain

Hybrid electric vehicles can be classified according to the way in which power is supplied to the drivetrain:

In parallel hybrids, the ICE and the electric motor are both connected to the mechanical transmission and can simultaneously transmit power to drive the wheels, usually through a conventional transmission. Honda's Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system as found in the Insight, Civic, Accord, as well as the GM Belted Alternator/Starter (BAS Hybrid) system found in the Chevrolet Malibu hybrids are examples of production parallel hybrids. Current, commercialized parallel hybrids use a single, small (<20 kW) electric motor and small battery pack as the electric motor is not designed to be the sole source of motive power from launch. Parallel hybrids are also capable of regenerative braking and the internal combustion engine can also act a generator for supplemental recharging. Parallel hybrids are more efficient than comparable non-hybrid vehicles especially during urban stop-and-go conditions and at times during highway operation where the electric motor is permitted to contribute.

In series hybrids, only the electric motor drives the drivetrain, and the ICE works as a generator to power the electric motor or to recharge the batteries. The battery pack can be recharged through regenerative braking or by the ICE. Series hybrids usually have a smaller combustion engine but a larger battery pack as compared to parallel hybrids, which makes them more expensive than parallels. This configuration makes series hybrids more efficient in city driving. The Chevrolet Volt is a series plug-in hybrid, although GM prefers to describe the Volt as an electric vehicle equipped with a "range extending" gasoline powered ICE as a generator and therefore dubbed an "Extended Range Electric Vehicle" or EREV.

Power-split hybrids have the benefits of a combination of series and parallel characteristics. As a result, they are more efficient overall, because series hybrids tend to be more efficient at lower speeds and parallel tend to be more efficient at high speeds; however, the power-split hybrid is higher than a pure parallel. Examples of power-split (referred to by some as "series-parallel") hybrid powertrains include current models of Ford, General Motors, Lexus, Nissan, and Toyota.

Types by degree of hybridization

Full hybrid, sometimes also called a strong hybrid, is a vehicle that can run on just the engine, just the batteries, or a combination of both. Ford's hybrid system, Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive and General Motors/Chrysler's Two-Mode Hybrid technologies are full hybrid systems. The Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Ford Fusion Hybrid are examples of full hybrids, as these cars can be moved forward on battery power alone. A large, high-capacity battery pack is needed for battery-only operation. These vehicles have a split power path allowing greater flexibility in the drivetrain by interconverting mechanical and electrical power, at some cost in complexity.

Mild hybrid, is a vehicle that can not be driven solely on its electric motor, because the electric motor does not have enough power to propel the vehicle on its own. Mild hybrids only include some of the features found in hybrid technology, and usually achieve limited fuel consumption savings, up to 15 percent in urban driving and 8 to 10 percent overall cycle. A mild hybrid is essentially a conventional vehicle with oversize starter motor, allowing the engine to be turned off whenever the car is coasting, braking, or stopped, yet restart quickly and cleanly. The motor is often mounted between the engine and transmission, taking the place of the torque converter, and is used to supply additional propulsion energy when accelerating. Accessories can continue to run on electrical power while the gasoline engine is off, and as in other hybrid designs, the motor is used for regenerative braking to recapture energy. As compared to full hybrids, mild hybrids have smaller batteries and a smaller, weaker motor/generator, which allows manufacturers to reduce cost and weight.

:Honda's early hybrids including the first generation Insight used this design, leveraging their reputation for design of small, efficient gasoline engines; their system is dubbed Integrated Motor Assist (IMA). Starting with the 2006 Civic Hybrid, the IMA system now can propel the vehicle solely on electric power during medium speed cruising. Another example is the 2005-2007 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid, a full-size pickup truck. Chevrolet was able to get a 10% improvement on the Silverado's fuel efficiency by shutting down and restarting the engine on demand and using regenerative braking. General Motors has also used its mild BAS Hybrid technology in other models such as the Saturn Vue Green Line, the Saturn Aura Greenline and the Mailbu Hybrid.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs)

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), also known as a plug-in hybrid, is a hybrid electric vehicle with rechargeable batteries that can be restored to full charge by connecting a plug to an external electric powersource. A PHEV shares the characteristics of both a conventional hybrid electric vehicle, having an electric motor and an internal combustion engine; and of an all-electric vehicle, also having a plug to connect to the electrical grid. PHEVs have a much larger all-electric range as compared to conventional gasoline-electric hybrids, and also eliminate the "range anxiety" associated to all-electric vehicles, because the combustion engine works as a backup when the batteries are depleted.

Chinese battery manufacturer and automaker BYD Auto released the F3DM PHEV-62 (PHEV-100 km) hatchback to the Chinese fleet market on December 15, 2008, for 149,800 yuan (US $22,000). General Motors launched the 2011 Chevrolet Volt series plug-in in December 2010. The Volt displaced the Toyota Prius as the most fuel-efficient car sold in the United States.

History

Early days

In 1900, while employed at Lohner Coach Factory, Ferdinand Porsche developed the ''Mixte'', a 4WD series-hybrid version of "''System Lohner-Porsche''" electric carriage previously appeared in 1900 Paris World Fair. The Mixte included a pair of generators driven by 2.5-hp Daimler IC engines to extend operating range and it could travel nearly 65 km on battery alone. It was presented in the Paris Auto Show in 1901. The Mixte broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself driving. The Mixte used a gasoline engine powering a generator, which in turn powered electric hub motors, with a small battery pack for reliability. It had a top speed of 50 km/h and a power of 5.22 kW during 20 minutes.

George Fischer sold hybrid buses to England in 1901; Knight Neftal produced a racing hybrid in 1902. In 1905, H. Piper filed a US patent application for a hybrid vehicle. The 1915 ''Dual Power'', made by the Woods Motor Vehicle electric car maker, had a four-cylinder ICE and an electric motor. Below the electric motor alone drove the vehicle, drawing power from a battery pack, and above this speed the "main" engine cut in to take the car up to its top speed. About 600 were made up to 1918.

A Canadian company produced a hybrid car for sale in 1915. The first gasoline-electric hybrid car was released by the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago in 1917. The hybrid was a commercial failure, proving to be too slow for its price, and too difficult to service.

In 1931 Erich Gaichen invented and drove from Altenburg to Berlin a 1/2 horsepower electric car containing features later incorporated into hybrid cars. Its maximum speed was , but it was licensed by the Motor Transport Office, taxed by the German Revenue Department and patented by the German Reichs-Patent Amt. The car battery was re-charged by the motor when the car went downhill. Additional power to charge the battery was provided by a cylinder of compressed air which was re-charged by small air pumps activated by vibrations of the chassis and the brakes and by igniting oxyhydrogen gas. An account of the car and his characterization as a "crank inventor" can be found in Arthur Koestler's autobiography, Arrow in the Blue, pages 269-271, which summarize a contemporaneous newspaper account written by Koestler. No production beyond the prototype was reported.

Predecessors of current technology

A more recent working prototype of the HEV was built by Victor Wouk (one of the scientists involved with the Henney Kilowatt, the first transistor-based electric car). Wouk's work with HEVs in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the title as the "Godfather of the Hybrid". Wouk installed a prototype hybrid drivetrain (with a electric motor) into a 1972 Buick Skylark provided by GM for the 1970 Federal Clean Car Incentive Program, but the program was stopped by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1976 while Eric Stork, the head of the EPA at the time, was accused of a prejudicial coverup.

The regenerative braking system, the core design concept of most production HEVs, was developed by electrical engineer David Arthurs around 1978, using off-the shelf components and an Opel GT. However the voltage controller to link the batteries, motor (a jet-engine starter motor), and DC generator was Arthurs'. The vehicle exhibited fuel efficiency, and plans for it (as well as somewhat updated versions) are still available through the Mother Earth News web site. The Mother Earth News' own 1980 version claimed nearly .

In 1989, Audi produced its first iteration of the Audi Duo (the Audi C3 100 Avant Duo) experimental vehicle, a plug-in parallel hybrid based on the Audi 100 Avant quattro. This car had a Siemens electric motor which drove the rear roadwheels. A trunk-mounted nickel-cadmium battery supplied energy to the motor that drove the rear wheels. The vehicle's front roadwheels were powered by a 2.3 litre five-cylinder petrol engine with an output of . The intent was to produce a vehicle which could operate on the engine in the country, and electric mode in the city. Mode of operation could be selected by the driver. Just ten vehicles are believed to have been made; one drawback was that due to the extra weight of the electric drive, the vehicles were less efficient when running on their engines alone than standard Audi 100s with the same engine.

Two years later, Audi, unveiled the second duo generation, the Audi 100 Duo - likewise based on the Audi 100 Avant quattro. Once again, this featured an electric motor, a three-phase machine, driving the rear roadwheels. This time, however, the rear wheels were additionally powered via the Torsen centre differential from the main engine compartment, which housed a 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine.

In 1992,Volvo ECC was developed by Volvo. The Volvo ECC was built on the Volvo 850 platform. In contrast to most production hybrids, which use a gasoline piston engine to provide additional acceleration and to recharge the battery storage, the Volvo ECC used a gas turbine engine to drive the generator for recharging.

The Clinton administration initiated the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program on 29 September 1993, that involved Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, USCAR, the DoE, and other various governmental agencies to engineer the next efficient and clean vehicle. The United States National Research Council (USNRC) cited automakers' moves to produce HEVs as evidence that technologies developed under PNGV were being rapidly adopted on production lines, as called for under Goal 2. Based on information received from automakers, NRC reviewers questioned whether the "Big Three" would be able to move from the concept phase to cost effective, pre-production prototype vehicles by 2004, as set out in Goal 3. The program was replaced by the hydrogen-focused FreedomCAR initiative by the George W. Bush administration in 2001, an initiative to fund research too risky for the private sector to engage in, with the long-term goal of developing effectively carbon emission- and petroleum-free vehicles.

1998 saw the Esparante GTR-Q9 became the first Petrol-Electric Hybrid to race at Le Mans, although the car failed to qualify for the main event. The car managed to finished second in class at Petit Le Mans the same year.

Modern hybrids

[[File:DCA 07 2009 Honda Insight Hybrid with badging 6423.jpg|thumb|[[Honda Insight#Second generation (2010–present)| 2010 Honda Insight (second generation)]].]] Automotive hybrid technology became widespread beginning in the late 1990s. The first mass-produced hybrid vehicle was the Toyota Prius, launched in Japan in 1997, and followed by the Honda Insight, launched in 1999 in the United States and Japan. The Prius was launched in Europe, North America and the rest of the world in 2000. The first generation Prius sedan has an estimated fuel economy of in the city and in highway driving. The two-door first generation Insight was estimated at miles per gallon in city driving and on the highway.

The Toyota Prius sold 300 units in 1997, 19,500 in 2000, and cumulative worldwide Prius sales reached the 1 million mark in April 2008. By early 2010, the Prius global cumulative sales were estimated at 1.6 million units. Toyota launched a second generation Prius in 2004 and a third in 2009. The 2010 Prius has an estimated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency combined fuel economy cycle of .

The Audi Duo III was introduced in 1997, based on the Audi B5 A4 Avant, and was the only Duo to ever make it into series production. The Duo III used the 1.9 litre Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) diesel engine, which was coupled with an electric motor. Unfortunately due to low demand for this hybrid because of its high price, only about sixty Audi Duos were produced. Until the release of the Audi Q7 Hybrid in 2008, the Duo was the only European hybrid ever put into production.

The Honda Civic Hybrid was introduced in February 2002 as a 2003 model, based on the seventh generation Civic. The 2003 Civic Hybrid appears identical to the non-hybrid version, but delivers , a 40 percent increase compared to a conventional Civic LX sedan. Along with the conventional Civic, it received styling update for 2004. The redesigned 2004 Toyota Prius (second generation) improved passenger room, cargo area, and power output, while increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions. The Honda Insight first generation stopped being produced after 2006 and has a devoted base of owners. A second generation Insight was launched in 2010. In 2004, Honda also released a hybrid version of the Accord but discontinued it in 2007 citing disappointing sales.

The Ford Escape Hybrid, the first hybrid electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) was released in 2005. Toyota and Ford entered into a licensing agreement in March 2004 allowing Ford to use 20 patents from Toyota related to hybrid technology, although Ford's engine was independently designed and built. In exchange for the hybrid licenses, Ford licensed patents involving their European diesel engines to Toyota. Toyota announced calendar year 2005 hybrid electric versions of the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Lexus RX 400h with 4WD-i, which uses a rear electric motor to power the rear wheels negating the need for a transfer case.

In 2006, General Motors Saturn Division began to market a mild parallel hybrids in the form of the 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line which utilized GM's Belted Alternator/Starter (BAS Hybrid) System combined with a 2.4 litre L4 engine and a FWD automatic transmission. The same hybrid powertrain was also used to power the 2008 Saturn Aura Greenline and Mailbu Hybrid models. As of December 2009, only the BAS equipped Malibu is still in (limited) production.

In 2007, Lexus released a hybrid electric version of their GS sport sedan, the GS 450h, with a power output of 335 bhp. The 2007 Camry Hybrid became available in Summer 2006 in the United States and Canada. Nissan launched the Altima Hybrid with technology licensed by Toyota in 2007.

Commencing in the fall of 2007 General Motors began to market their 2008 Two-Mode Hybrid models of their GMT900 based Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs, closely followed by the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid version. For the 2009 model year, General Motors released the same technology in their half-ton pickup truck models, the 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Two-Mode Hybrid models.

The Ford Fusion Hybrid officially debuted at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2008, and was launched to the U.S. market in March 2009, together with the second generation Honda Insight and the Mercury Milan Hybrid.

Latest developments

;2009–2010 The Hyundai Elantra LPI Hybrid was unveiled at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show, and sales began in the South Korean domestic market in July 2009. The Elantra LPI (Liquefied Petroleum Injected) is the world's first hybrid vehicle to be powered by an internal combustion engine built to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a fuel. The Elantra PLI is a mild hybrid and the first hybrid to adopt advanced lithium polymer (Li–Poly) batteries. The Elantra LPI Hybrid delivers a fuel economy rating of and CO₂ emissions of 99 g/km to qualify as a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV).

The Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid was unveiled in the 2009 Chicago Auto Show, and sales began in the U.S. in October 2009. The S400 BlueHybrid is a mild hybrid and the first hybrid car to adopt a lithium ion battery. The hybrid technology in the S400 was co-developed by Daimler AG and BMW. The same hybrid technology is being used in the BMW ActiveHybrid 7, expected to go on sales in the U.S. and Europe by mid 2010. In December 2009 BMW began sales of its full hybrid BMW ActiveHybrid X6, while Daimler launched the Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid by lease only.

Sales of the 2011 Honda CR-Z began in Japan in February 2010, followed by the U.S. in August 2010, becoming Honda's third hybrid electric car in the market. The CR-Z is scheduled to be launched in the European market also in 2010. Honda also launch in Japan the 2011 Honda Fit Hybrid in October 2010, and unveiled the European version, the Honda Jazz Hybrid, in the 2010 Paris Motor Show, which went on sale in some European markets by early 2011.

Mass production of the 2011 Toyota Auris Hybrid began in May 2010 at Toyota Manufacturing UK (TMUK) Burnaston plant and became the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle to be built in Europe. Sales in the U.K. began in July 2010, at a price starting at (), () less than the Toyota Prius. The 2011 Auris Hybrid shares the same powertrain as the Prius, and combined fuel economy is .

The 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid was unveiled at the 2010 New York International Auto Show and sales began in the U.S. in September 2010. The MKZ Hybrid is the first hybrid version ever to have the same price as the gasoline-engine version of the same car. The Porshe Cayenne Hybrid was launched in the U.S in late 2010. ;2011–2012 Volkswagen announced at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show the launch of the 2012 Touareg Hybrid, which went on sale on the U.S. in 2011. VW also announced plans to introduce diesel-electric hybrid versions of its most popular models in 2012, beginning with the new Jetta, followed by the Golf Hybrid in 2013 together with hybrid versions of the Passat. Other gasoline-electric hybrids released in the U.S. in 2011 are the Lexus CT 200h, the Infiniti M35 Hybrid, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and its siblling the Kia Optima Hybrid.

The Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 will be launched in the European market in the second half of 2011 and is expected to become the world's first production diesel-electric hybrid. According to Peugeot the new hybrid delivers a fuel economy of up to and CO₂ emissions of 99g/km on the European test cycle.

The Toyota Prius V, the first spinoff from the Prius family, was unveiled at the January 2011 North American International Auto Show and is scheduled to be released to the U.S. market by mid 2011. The improved 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid will be launch by the end of 2012. The Toyota Yaris HSD Concept was introduced at the March 2011 Geneva Motor Show and is expected to go on sale in Europe in 2012. Other hybrids scheduled to be released in the U.S. during the second half of 2011 are the Audi Q5 Hybrid and the BMW 5 Series ActiveHybrid. The Audi A6 Hybrid, Ford C-Max Hybrid, and Toyota Prius c are slated for market launch in the U.S. in 2012.

Sales and rankings

The Toyota hybrids combined with Lexus reached 1 million hybrids sold in the U.S. by February 2009, and worldwide sales of hybrids by both brands totaled over 2 million vehicles by August 2009. As the top selling hybrid in both the U.S. and Japanese markets, the Toyota Prius reached global cumulative sales of 2.0 million Prius as of September 30, 2010. Worldwide, Toyota Motor Company is the leader with more than 3.0 million hybrids sold by February 2011, followed by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. with more than 300 thousand hybrids sold by January 2009, and Ford Motor Corporation with more than 140 thousand hybrids sold by December 2010.

More than 3 million hybrid electric vehicles have been sold around the world by July 2010, led by the United States with almost 1.8 million units, followed by Japan with more than 1 million units and Europe with more than 200 thousand. By December 2010, the top seller in the U.S. was the Toyota Prius, with cumulative sales of 955,101 units, followed by the Honda Civic Hybrid, with 204,513 vehicles, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid, with 169,564 units. The top selling hybrid in the U.S. by an American manufacturer is the Ford Escape Hybrid, with cumulative sales of 106,467 vehicles by December 2010, followed by the Fusion Hybrid, with sales of 36,370 units. Japan and the U.S. represented 84% of global hybrid sales in 2009. U.S. sales of the Toyota Prius reached the 1.0 million milestone in early April 2011, and cumulative hybrid vehicle sales in the American market reached 2.0 million units in May 2011.

{|class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" ! colspan="8" style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|Top national markets for hybrid electric vehicles between 2007 and 2009''' |- !style="background:#cfc;"|Rank || style="background:#cfc;"|Country ||style="background:#cfc;"|Number of registered hybrids2009|| style="background:#cfc;"|Percent of global hybrid registrations2009||style="background:#cfc;"|Number of registered hybrids2008||style="background:#cfc;"|Percent of global hybrid registrations2008||style="background:#cfc;"|Number of registered hybrids2007||style="background:#cfc;"|Percent of global hybrid registrations2007 |- style="text-align:center;" | 1 || align=left| ||334,000||45% || 94,259 || 18%|| 69,015|| 14% |- style="text-align:center;" | 2 ||align=left|||290,271||39% || 312,209|| 61%|| 350,289|| 70% |- style="text-align:center;" | 3 || align=left| ||16,167^{(1) || 2%||15,385 || 3%|| 14,828|| 3% |- style="text-align:center;" | 4 || align=left|||13,686(1) ||- || 11,814 ||| 2%|| n.a.(2)|| - |- style="text-align:center;" | 5 || align=left|||13,661(1) || -||19,963 || 4%|| 15,968|| 3% |- style="text-align:center;" |colspan="2" | ''Top 5''|| -||- ||453,630|| 89%|| 457,615|| 91% |- style="text-align:center;" |colspan="2" | ''World''||740,000|| || 511,758||| || 500,405|| |- | colspan="8" style="text-align:left; background:#cfc;"|Notes: (1) Cumulative sales until November 2009 only. (2) For year 2007 Netherlands was not among the top 5 world markets. Germany, with 7,515 hybrids sold, was the fifth country in the rank. |}}

U.S. market

The fleet of hybrid electric vehicles in the United States is the largest in the world, and since their inception in 1999 more than 2 million hybrid electric automobiles and SUVs have been sold thorugh May 2011. The top selling hybrid car in the U.S. is the Toyota Prius, with 1,017,281 units sold until May 2011.

California has been the state leading hybrid sales in the U.S. with 55,553 vehicles sold in 2009, 74,932 in 2008, and 91,417 in 2007. In 2009 it was followed by New York (15,438) and Florida (14,949). In terms of new hybrids sold per capita, the District of Columbia was the leader in 2009 with 3.79 hybrids per 1000 residents, followed by Califormia (1.54) and Washington (1.53).

The top 5 U. S. metropolitan area markets for sales of hybrid electric vehicles in 2009 were Los Angeles (26,677), New York (21,193), San Francisco (15,799), Washington, D.C. (11,595), and Chicago (8,990). The following table summarizes the top metropolitan area markets in terms of new hybrids sold per capita.

{|class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto" ! colspan="6" style="text-align:center; background:#abcdef;"|Top U.S. metropolitan markets for hybrid electric vehicles in 2008-2009 ! rowspan="13" style="background:#fff; width:25%;"| |- style="text-align:center; background:#abcdef;" || Rank2009||style="background:#ABCDEF;"| MetropolitanArea||style="background:#ABCDEF;"| New registered hybrids per 1000 households(2009)||style="background:#ABCDEF;"|Rank2008||style="background:#ABCDEF;"| MetropolitanArea||style="background:#ABCDEF;"| New registered hybridsper 1000 households(2008) |- style="text-align:center;" | 1||align=left|Portland, OR ||8.8 || 1||align=left|Portland, OR ||12.17 |- style="text-align:center;" | 2 ||align=left|Helena, MT|| 6.7||2 ||align=left|San Francisco, CA || 8.84 |- style="text-align:center;" | 3 ||align=left| San Francisco, CA || 6.7 ||3 ||align=left| Monterey, CA|| 7.16 |- style="text-align:center;" | 4 ||align=left|Washington, DC || 5.1 ||4 ||align=left|Santa Barbara, CA||6.94 |- style="text-align:center;" | 5 ||align=left|Los Angeles, CA|| 4.8||5||align=left|San Diego, CA||6.57 |- style="text-align:center;" | 6 ||align=left|San Diego, CA||4.7||6||align=left|Los Angeles|| 6.08 |- style="text-align:center;" | 7 ||align=left| Seattle, WA|| 4.7 ||7||align=left|Charlottesville, VA|| 5.42 |- style="text-align:center;" | 8 ||align=left|Juneau, AK || 4.6||8||align=left|Seattle, WA|| 4.90 |- style="text-align:center;" | 9 ||align=left|Santa Barbara, CA||4.4 ||9||align=left|Washington, DC||4.85 |- style="text-align:center;" | 10 ||align=left|Monterey, CA|| 4.3 ||10||align=left|Sacramento, CA||4.85 |- style="text-align:center;" | colspan="2" |''U.S. metropolitan areaaverage''|| 1.8||colspan="2" |''U.S. metropolitan areaaverage''|| 2.18 |- |}

The top selling hybrid car during year 2010 was the Toyota Prius, with 140,928 units sold, followed by the Honda Insight with 20,962 and the Ford Fusion Hybrid with 20,816 cars.

Japanese market

Toyota's hybrid sales in Japan since 1997, including both Toyota and Lexus models, reached 615,800 units by August 2009 and passed the 1 million mark in July 2010. Cumulative sales of Honda's hybrid vehicles since November 1999 reached 25,239 units by January 2009, and in March 2010, Honda announced that the new 2010 Insight broke through 100,000 sales in Japan in just one year after its introduction. Total worldwide sales of the Insight during its first year in the market reached 143,015 units, falling short of the 200,000 global sales target set by Honda when it was launched in 2009.

Hybrid sales in Japan almost triple in 2009 as compared to 2008 as a result of government incentives that included a scrappage program, tax breaks on hybrid vehicles and other low emission cars and trucks, and a higher levy on gasoline that rose prices in the order of US$4.50. New hybrid car sales jumped from 94,259 in 2008 to 334,000 in 2009, and hybrid sales in 2009 represented around 10% of new vehicles sales in Japan. In contrast, the U.S. market share was 2.8% for the same year. These record sales allowed Japan to surpass the U.S. in total new hybrid sales, as the Japanese market represented almost half (48%) of the worldwide hybrid sales in 2009 while the U.S. market represented 42% of global sales.

The Toyota Prius became the first HEV to top annual new car sales in Japan with 208,876 units sold in 2009, and by February 2010 the Prius remained the top selling car, and became so popular that there is a six month waiting list. The Insight ranked fifth in overall sales in 2009 with 93,283 units sold.

Technology

The varieties of hybrid electric designs can be differentiated by the structure of the hybrid vehicle drivetrain, the fuel type, and the mode of operation.

In 2007, several automobile manufacturers announced that future vehicles will use aspects of hybrid electric technology to reduce fuel consumption without the use of the hybrid drivetrain. Regenerative braking can be used to recapture energy and stored to power electrical accessories, such as air conditioning. Shutting down the engine at idle can also be used to reduce fuel consumption and reduce emissions without the addition of a hybrid drivetrain. In both cases, some of the advantages of hybrid electric technology are gained while additional cost and weight may be limited to the addition of larger batteries and starter motors. There is no standard terminology for such vehicles, although they may be termed mild hybrids.

Engines and fuel sources

Fossil fuels

Free-piston engines could be used to generate electricity as efficiently as, and less expensively than, fuel cells.

;Gasoline Gasoline engines are used in most hybrid electric designs, and will likely remain dominant for the foreseeable future. While petroleum-derived gasoline is the primary fuel, it is possible to mix in varying levels of ethanol created from renewable energy sources. Like most modern ICE powered vehicles, HEVs can typically use up to about 15% bioethanol. Manufacturers may move to flexible fuel engines, which would increase allowable ratios, but no plans are in place at present.

;Diesel Diesel-electric HEVs use a diesel engine for power generation. Diesels have advantages when delivering constant power for long periods of time, suffering less wear while operating at higher efficiency. The diesel engine's high torque, combined with hybrid technology, may offer substantially improved mileage. Most diesel vehicles can use 100% pure biofuels (biodiesel), so they can use but do not need petroleum at all for fuel (although mixes of biofuel and petroleum are more common, and petroleum may be needed for lubrication). If diesel-electric HEVs were in use, this benefit would likely also apply. Diesel-electric hybrid drivetrains have begun to appear in commercial vehicles (particularly buses); as of 2007, no light duty diesel-electric hybrid passenger cars are currently available, although prototypes exist. Peugeot is expected to produce a diesel-electric hybrid version of its 308 in late 2008 for the European market.

PSA Peugeot Citroën has unveiled two demonstrator vehicles featuring a diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain: the Peugeot 307, Citroën C4 Hybride HDi and Citroën C-Cactus. Volkswagen made a prototype diesel-electric hybrid car that achieved fuel economy, but has yet to sell a hybrid vehicle. General Motors has been testing the Opel Astra Diesel Hybrid. There have been no concrete dates suggested for these vehicles, but press statements have suggested production vehicles would not appear before 2009.

At the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009 both Mercedes and BMW displayed diesel-electric hybrids.

Robert Bosch GmbH is supplying hybrid diesel-electric technology to diverse automakers and models, including the Peugeot 308.

So far, production diesel-electric engines have mostly appeared in mass transit buses.

FedEx, along with Eaton Corp. in the USA and Iveco in Europe, has begun deploying a small fleet of Hybrid diesel electric delivery trucks. As of October 2007 Fedex now operates more than 100 diesel electric hybrids in North America, Asia and Europe.

;Liquefied petroleum gas Hyundai introduced in 2009 the Hyundai Elantra LPI Hybrid, which is the first mass production hybrid electric vehicle to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

;Hydrogen Hydrogen can be used in cars in two ways: a source of combustible heat, or a source of electrons for an electric motor. The burning of hydrogen is not being developed in practical terms; it is the hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle (HFEV) which is garnering all the attention. Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity fed into an electric motor to drives the wheels. Hydrogen is not burned, but it is consumed. This means molecular hydrogen, H₂, is combined with oxygen to form water. 2H₂ (4e^-) + O₂ --> 2H₂O (4e^-). The molecular hydrogen and oxygen's mutual affinity drives the fuel cell to separate the electrons from the hydrogen, to use them to power the electric motor, and to return them to the ionized water molecules that were formed when the electron-depleted hydrogen combined with the oxygen in the fuel cell. Recalling that a hydrogen atom is nothing more than a proton and an electron; in essence, the motor is driven by the proton's atomic attraction to the oxygen nucleus, and the electron's attraction to the ionized water molecule.

An HFEV is an all-electric car featuring an open-source battery in the form of a hydrogen tank and the atmosphere. HFEVs may also comprise closed-cell batteries for the purpose of power storage from regenerative braking, but this does not change the source of the motivation. It implies the HFEV is an electric car with two types of batteries. Since HFEVs are purely electric, and do not contain any type of heat engine, they are not hybrids.

Biofuels

Hybrid vehicles might use an internal combustion engine running on biofuels, such as a flexible-fuel engine running on ethanol or engines running on biodiesel. In 2007 Ford produced 20 demonstration Escape Hybrid E85s for real-world testing in fleets in the U.S. Also as a demonstration project, Ford delivered in 2008 the first flexible-fuel plug-in hybrid SUV to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid, capable of running on gasoline or E85.

The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid electric vehicle would be the first commercially available flex-fuel plug-in hybrid capable of adapting the propulsion to the biofuels used in several world markets such as the ethanol blend E85 in the U.S., or E100 in Brazil, or biodiesel in Sweden. The Volt will be E85 flex-fuel capable about a year after its introduction.

Electric machines

In ''split path'' vehicles (Toyota, Ford, GM, Chrysler) there are two electrical machines, one of which functions as a motor primarily, and the other functions as a generator primarily. One of the primary requirements of these machines is that they are very efficient, as the electrical portion of the energy must be converted from the engine to the generator, through two inverters, through the motor again and then to the wheels.

Most of the electric machines used in hybrid vehicles are brushless DC motors (BLDC). Specifically, they are of a type called an interior permanent magnet (IPM) machine (or motor). These machines are wound similarly to the induction motors found in a typical home, but (for high efficiency) use very strong rare earth magnets in the rotor. These magnets contain neodymium, iron and boron, and are therefore called Neodymium magnets. The magnet material is expensive, and its cost is one of the limiting factors in the use of these machines.

Design considerations

In some cases, manufacturers are producing HEVs that use the added energy provided by the hybrid systems to give vehicles a power boost, rather than significantly improved fuel efficiency compared to their traditional counterparts. The trade-off between added performance and improved fuel efficiency is partly controlled by the software within the hybrid system and partly the result of the engine, battery and motor size. In the future, manufacturers may provide HEV owners with the ability to partially control this balance (fuel efficiency vs. added performance) as they wish, through a user-controlled setting. Toyota announced in January, 2006 that it was considering a "high-efficiency" button.

Conversion kits

One can buy a stock hybrid or convert a stock petroleum car to a hybrid electric vehicle using an aftermarket hybrid kit.

Environmental impact

Fuel consumption

Current HEVs reduce petroleum consumption under certain circumstances, compared to otherwise similar conventional vehicles, primarily by using three mechanisms: #Reducing wasted energy during idle/low output, generally by turning the ICE off #Recapturing waste energy (i.e. regenerative braking) #Reducing the size and power of the ICE, and hence inefficiencies from under-utilization, by using the added power from the electric motor to compensate for the loss in peak power output from the smaller ICE.

Any combination of these three primary hybrid advantages may be used in different vehicles to realize different fuel usage, power, emissions, weight and cost profiles. The ICE in an HEV can be smaller, lighter, and more efficient than the one in a conventional vehicle, because the combustion engine can be sized for slightly above ''average'' power demand rather than ''peak'' power demand. The drive system in a vehicle is required to operate over a range of speed and power, but an ICE's highest efficiency is in a narrow range of operation, making conventional vehicles inefficient. On the contrary, in most HEV designs, the ICE operates closer to its range of highest efficiency more frequently. The power curve of electric motors is better suited to variable speeds and can provide substantially greater torque at low speeds compared with internal-combustion engines. The greater fuel economy of HEVs has implication for reduced petroleum consumption and vehicle air pollution emissions worldwide

Noise

Reduced noise emissions resulting from substantial use of the electric motor at idling and low speeds, leading to roadway noise reduction, in comparison to conventional gasoline or diesel powered engine vehicles, resulting in beneficial noise health effects (although road noise from tires and wind, the loudest noises at highway speeds from the interior of most vehicles, are not affected by the hybrid design alone).

Reduced noise may not be beneficial for all road users, as blind people or the visually impaired consider the noise of combustion engines a helpful aid while crossing streets and feel quiet hybrids could pose an unexpected hazard. The U.S. Congress and the European Commission are exploring legislation to establish a minimum level of sound for plug-in electric and hybrid electric vehicles when operating in electric mode, so that blind people and other pedestrians and cyclists can hear them coming and detect from which direction they are approaching. Tests have shown that vehicles operating in electric mode can be particularly hard to hear below . In January 2010 the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism issued guidelines for hybrid and other near-silent vehicles.

A 2009 study conducted by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that crashes involving pedestrian and bicyclist have higher incidence rates for hybrids than internal combustion engine vehicles in certain vehicle maneuvers. These accidents commonly occurred on in zones with low speed limits, during daytime and in clear weather.

Even though no specific national regulation has been enacted in most countries as of mid 2010, some carmakers announced they have decided to address this safety issue shared by regular hybrids and all types of plug-in electric vehicles, and as a result, the upcoming Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, both due in late 2010, and the new Nissan Fuga hybrid and the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid, both due in 2011, will include synthesized sounds to alert pedestrians, the blind and others to their presence.

There is also after market technology available in California to make hybrids sound more like conventional combustion engine cars when the vehicle goes into the silent electric mode (EV mode). On August 2010 Toyota began sales in Japan of an onboard device designed to automatically emit a synthesized sound of an electric motor when the Prius is operating as an electric vehicle at speeds up to approximately . Toyota plans to use other versions of the device for use in gasoline-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles as well as fuel-cell hybrid vehicles planned for mass production.

Pollution

Battery toxicity is a concern, although today's hybrids use NiMH batteries, not the environmentally problematic rechargeable nickel cadmium. "Nickel metal hydride batteries are benign. They can be fully recycled," says Ron Cogan, editor of the Green Car Journal. Toyota and Honda say that they will recycle dead batteries and that disposal will pose no toxic hazards. Toyota puts a phone number on each battery, and they pay a $200 "bounty" for each battery to help ensure that it will be properly recycled.

Economic and environmental performance comparison among several popular hybrid models available in the U.S.

Vehicle types

Motorcycles

Companies such as Zero Motorcycles and Vectrix have market-ready all-electric motorcycles available now, but the pairing of electrical components and an internal combustion engine (ICE) has made packaging cumbersome, especially for niche brands.

Also, eCycle Inc produces series diesel-electric motorcycles, with a top speed of and a target retail price of $5500.

Peugeot HYmotion3 compressor, a hybrid scooter is a three-wheeler that uses two separate power sources to power the front and back wheels. The back wheel is powered by a single cylinder 125 cc, single cylinder motor while the front wheels are each driven by their own electric motor. When the bike is moving up to 10 km/h only the electric motors are used on a stop-start basis reducing the amount of carbon emissions.

SEMA has announced that Yamaha is going to launch one in 2010, with Honda following a year later, fueling a competition to reign in new customers and set new standards for mobility. Each company hopes to provide the capability to reach per charge by adopting advanced lithium-ion batteries to accomplish their claims. These proposed hybrid motorcycles could incorporate components from the upcoming Honda Insight car and its hybrid powertrain. The ability to mass-produce these items helps to overcome the investment hurdles faced by start-up brands and bring new engineering concepts into mainstream markets.

Automobiles and light trucks

Taxis

In 2000 North America's first hybrid electric taxi was put into service in Vancouver, British Columbia, operating a 2001 Toyota Prius which traveled over before being retired. Many of the major cities in the world are adding hybrid taxis to their taxicab fleets, led by San Francisco and New York City. By 2009 15% of New York's 13,237 taxis in service are hybrids, the most in any city in North America, and also began retiring its original hybrid fleet after per vehicle. Other cities where taxi service is available with hybrid vehicles include Tokyo, London, Sydney, Melbourne, and Rome.

Buses

Hybrid technology for buses has seen increased attention since recent battery developments decreased battery weight significantly. Drivetrains consist of conventional diesel engines and gas turbines. Some designs concentrate on using car engines, recent designs have focused on using conventional diesel engines already used in bus designs, to save on engineering and training costs. Several manufacturers are currently working on new hybrid designs, or hybrid drivetrains that fit into existing chassis offerings without major re-design. A challenge to hybrid buses may still come from cheaper lightweight imports from the former Eastern block countries or China, where national operators are looking at fuel consumption issues surrounding the weight of the bus, which has increased with recent bus technology innovations such as glazing, air conditioning and electrical systems. A hybrid bus can also deliver fuel economy though through the hybrid drivetrain. Hybrid technology is also being promoted by environmentally concerned transit authorities.

Trucks

In 2003, GM introduced a hybrid diesel-electric military (light) truck, equipped with a diesel electric and a fuel cell auxiliary power unit. Hybrid electric light trucks were introduced in 2004 by Mercedes Benz (Sprinter) and Micro-Vett SPA (Daily Bimodale). International Truck and Engine Corp. and Eaton Corp. have been selected to manufacture diesel-electric hybrid trucks for a US pilot program serving the utility industry in 2004. In mid 2005 Isuzu introduced the Elf Diesel Hybrid Truck on the Japanese Market. They claim that approximately 300 vehicles, mostly route buses are using Hinos HIMR (Hybrid Inverter Controlled Motor & Retarder) system. In 2007, high petroleum price means a hard sell for hybrid trucks and appears the first U.S. production hybrid truck (International DuraStar Hybrid). Other vehicles are: Big mining machines like the Liebherr T 282B dump truck or Keaton Vandersteen LeTourneau L-2350 wheel loader are powered that way. Also there was several models of BelAZ (7530 and 7560 series) in USSR (now in Belarus) since the middle of 1970th.

NASA's huge Crawler-Transporters are diesel-electric.

Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid is a diesel-electric commercial truck.

Azure Dynamics Balance Hybrid Electric is a gasonline-hybrid electric medium dutry truck based on the Ford E-450 chassis.

Hino Motors (a Toyota subsidiary) has the world's first production hybrid electric truck in Australia ( diesel engine plus a electric motor).

Other hybrid petroleum-electric truck makers are DAF Trucks, MAN AG with MAN TGL Series, Nissan Motors and Renault Trucks with Renault Puncher.

Hybrid electric truck technology and powertrain maker: ZF Friedrichshafen.

By a voice vote, the United States House of Representatives approved the ( for heavy duty plug-in hybrid vehicles) authored by representative James Sensenbrenner.

Military vehicles

The United States Army's manned ground vehicles of the Future Combat System all use a hybrid electric drive consisting of a diesel engine to generate electrical power for mobility and all other vehicle subsystems. However, with the current 2010 DOD budget all FCS land vehicles have been put on hold. Other military hybrid prototypes include the Millenworks Light Utility Vehicle, the International FTTS, HEMTT model A3,and the Shadow RST-V.

Locomotives

In May 2003, JR East started test runs with the so called NE (new energy) train and validated the system's functionality (series hybrid with lithium ion battery) in cold regions. In 2004, Railpower Technologies had been running pilots in the US with the so called Green Goats, which led to orders by the Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific Railways starting in early 2005.

Railpower offers hybrid electric road switchers, as does GE. Diesel-electric locomotives may not always be considered HEVs, not having energy storage on board, unless they are fed with electricity via a collector for short distances (for example, in tunnels with emission limits), in which case they are better classified as dual-mode vehicles.

Marine and other aquatic

Producers of marine hybrid propulsion: eCycle Inc.

Solar Sailor Holdings

Aircraft

Boeing has stated that for the subsonic concept, hybrid electric engine technology is a clear winner. Hybrid electric propulsion has the potential to shorten takeoff distance and reduce noise.

Hybrid Premium and Showroom Cost Parity

HEVs can be initially more expensive (the so-called "hybrid premium") than pure fossil-fuel-based ICE vehicles (ICEVs), due to extra batteries, more electronics and in some cases other design considerations (although battery renting can be used to reach the cost parity). The trade-off between higher initial cost (also called showroom costs) and lower fuel costs (difference often referred to as the payback period) is dependent on usage - miles traveled, or hours of operation, fuel costs, and in some cases, government subsidies. Traditional economy vehicles may result in a lower direct cost for many users (before consideration of any externality).

''Consumer Reports'' ran an article in April 2006 stating that HEVs would not pay for themselves over 5 years of ownership. However, this included an error with charging the "hybrid premium" twice. When corrected, the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius did have a payback period of slightly less than 5 years. This includes conservative estimates with depreciation (seen as more depreciation than a conventional vehicle, although that is not the current norm) and with progressively-higher gas prices. In particular, the Consumer Reports article assumed $2/U.S. gallon for 3 years, $3/U.S. gallon for one year and $4/U.S. gallon the last year. As recent events have shown, this is a volatile market and hard to predict. For 2006, gas prices ranged from low $2 to low $3, averaging about $2.60/U.S. gallon.

A January 2007 analysis by Intellichoice.com shows that all 22 currently available HEVs will save their owners money over a five year period. The most savings is for the Toyota Prius, which has a five year cost of ownership 40.3% lower than the cost of comparable non-hybrid vehicles.

A report in the ''Greeley Tribune'' says that over the five years it would typically take for a new car owner to pay off the vehicle cost differential, a hybrid Camry driver could save up to $6,700 in gasoline at current gasoline prices, with hybrid tax incentives as an additional saving.

In countries with incentives to fight against global warming and contamination and promote vehicle fuel efficiency, the pay-back period can be immediate and all-combustion engine vehicles (ACEVs) can cost more than hybrids because they generate more pollution.

Toyota and Honda have already said they've halved the incremental cost of electric hybrids and see cost parity in the future (even without incentives).

Raw materials shortage

The rare earth element dysprosium is required to fabricate many of the advanced electric motors and battery systems in hybrid propulsion systems.

However, nearly all the rare earth elements in the world come from China, and one analyst believes that an overall increase in Chinese electronics manufacturing may consume this entire supply by 2012. In addition, export quotas on Chinese rare earth exports have resulted in a generally shaky supply of those metals.

A few non-Chinese sources such as the advanced Hoidas Lake project in northern Canada and Mt Weld in Australia are currently under development, however it is not known if these sources will be developed before a shortage hits.

Legislation and incentives

In order to encourage the purchase of HEVs, several countries have introduced legislation for incentives and ecotaxes.

Canada

Residents of Ontario and Quebec in Canada can claim a rebate on the Provincial Retail Sales Tax of up to $2,000 CDN on the purchase or lease of a hybrid electric vehicle. Ontario has a green license plate for hybrid car users and was to announce a slew of benefits to go along with it in 2008. Residents in British Columbia are eligible for a 100% reduction of sales tax up to a maximum of $2,000 if the hybrid electric vehicle is purchased or leased before April 1, 2011 (extended in 2007/2008 budget from March 31, 2008 and expanded from a maximum of only $1,000 from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, at which point the concession was scheduled to expire.) Prince Edward Island residents can claim rebates on the Provincial Sales Tax of up to $3,000 CDN on the purchase or lease of any hybrid vehicles since March 30, 2004.

Israel

In Haifa, hybrid vehicles are entitled to a free parking in city's parking lots for domestic citizens.

Japan

In 2009 the Japanese government implemented a set of policies and incentives that included a scrappage program, tax breaks on hybrid vehicles and other low emission cars and trucks, and a higher levy on gasoline that raised prices in the order of USD 4.50 per gallon. New hybrid car sales for 2009 were almost triple those for 2008.

Jordan

In Jordan, a full import customs and sales tax reduced for all hybrid vehicles from 80% to 60% of the vehicle list price based on the engine size.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), payable when a car is sold to its first buyer, can earn the owner of an HEV a discount up to €6,000.

New Zealand

In Christchurch, hybrid vehicles are entitled to an hour free parking in city council parking buildings. Where those buildings already provide an hour free, hybrid vehicles are entitled to an extra hour free.

Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, a discount of up to €1500 on VRT for hybrids, and up to €2500 for plugin hybrids is available until 31 December 2012. Previously there was a potential reduction of 50% of VRT applicable before July 2008, when VRT rates were based on engine size, rather than the current CO2 emissions system.

Sweden

In Sweden there is an "Eco car" subsidy of SEK 10 000 (~ USD 1.600) cash payout to private car owners. For fringe benefit cars there is a reduction of the benefit tax of 40% for EVs & HEVs and 20% for other "Eco cars".

United Kingdom

Drivers of HEVs in the United Kingdom benefit from the lowest band of vehicle excise duty (car tax), which is based on carbon dioxide emissions. In central London, these vehicles are also exempt from the £8 daily London congestion charge. Due to their low levels of regulated emissions, the greenest cars are eligible for 100% discount under the current system. To be eligible the car must be on the current Power Shift Register. At present, these include the cleanest LPG and natural gas cars and most hybrid-, battery- and fuel cell-electric vehicles.

United States

Federal

The purchase of hybrid electric cars qualifies for a federal income tax credit up to $3,400 on the purchaser's Federal income taxes. The tax credit is to be phased out two calendar quarters after the manufacturer reaches 60,000 new cars sold in the following manner: it will be reduced to 50% if delivered in either the third or fourth quarter after the threshold is reached, to 25% in the fifth and sixth quarters, and 0% thereafter.

As of April 2010 three auto manufactures have reached the 60,000 cap, Toyota Motor Company reached it in 2007, Honda in 2008, and as of April 1, 2010, all Ford Motor Company hybrid vehicles are also no longer eligible for this tax credit. Vehicles purchased after December 31, 2010 are not eligible for this credit as this benefit will expire on this date.

States and local

Certain states (e.g., New York, California, Virginia, and Florida) allow singly occupied HEVs to enter the HOV lanes on the highway. thumb|left|California's clean air bumper sticker used to allow HEVs to access [[High-occupancy vehicle lane|HOV lanes. Shown a RechargeIT's plug-in converted Prius (left) and a conventional Toyota Prius (right).]]Initially, the Federal Highway Administration ruled that this was a violation of federal statute until August 10, 2005 when George W. Bush signed the Transportation Equity Act of 2005 into law. In California, a total of 85,250 owners of the three eligible hybrid models benefited from free access to HOV lanes from 2004 to mid 2011. This incentive expired on July 1, 2011, and now hybrids are required to comply the minimum passenger requirements to use the HOV lanes. Some states, e.g. California, exempt hybrid electric cars from the biennial smog inspection, which costs over $50 ().

The city of San Jose, California issued a free parking tag until 2007 when it became issued for a fee annually for hybrid electric cars that were purchased at a San Jose dealership. The qualified owners do not have to pay for parking in any city garage or road side parking meters.

The city of Los Angeles, California offers free parking to all HEVs which started on 1 October 2004. The experiment is an extension to an existing offer of free parking for all pure electrical vehicles.

In October, 2005, the city of Baltimore, Maryland started to offer discount on monthly parking in the city parking lots, and is considering free meter parking for HEVs. On 3 November 2005, the ''Boston Globe'' reports that the city council of Boston is considering the same treatment for hybrid electric cars.

Annual vehicle registration fees in the District of Columbia are half ($36) that paid for conventional vehicles ($72).

See also

Energy Policy Act of 2005

Global Hybrid Cooperation

Comparison of Toyota hybrids

List of hybrid vehicles

Low-carbon fuel standard

Plug-in hybrid

Plug-in electric vehicle

Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle

UltraCommuter

Notes

References

New York City Taxis to go all hybrid by 2012 2007-05-22

Mother Earth News article from 1978 on the original regenerative braking hybrid car

GM Announces Chevrolet Volt Series Hybrid Concept Vehicle 2007-01-07

Hybrid-Electric "Bus of the Future" Tested By Capital Metro.

Israel Mulls Hybrid Taxis

FedEx to Launch Commercial Hybrid-Electric Vans from Iveco in Europe

About FedEx Hybrid Electric Vehicle in the USA

2004 Toyota Prius - Motor Trend Car of the Year

"Looking for a hybrid? Prepare for a long wait" to obtain one (Star Tribune).

Doctors Orders: Buy a Hybrid

External links

Compare hybrid cars at FuelEconomy.gov

How Much Is That Hybrid Electric Really Saving You? (Popular Mechanics)

Series, Parallel, and series-parallel systems animation by Union of Concerned Scientists

Lexus Hybrid Drive Technology

Category:Green vehicles

cs:Hybridní pohon de:Hybridelektrokraftfahrzeug es:Vehículo híbrido eléctrico fa:خودرو برقی دوگانه‌سوز si:දෙමුහුම් විද්‍යුත් වාහන sr:Hibridni pogon zh:混合動力車輛

An electric vehicle (EV), also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. Three main types of electric vehicles exist, those that are directly powered from an external power station, those that are powered by stored electricity originally from an external power source, and those that are powered by an on-board electrical generator, such as an engine (a hybrid electric vehicle), or a hydrogen fuel cell. Electric vehicles include electric cars, electric trains, electric lorries, electric aeroplanes, electric boats, electric motorcycles and scooters and electric spacecraft.

Electric vehicles first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time. The internal combustion engine (ICE) is the dominant propulsion method for motor vehicles but electric power has remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types.

During the last few decades, environmental impact of the petroleum-based transportation infrastructure, along with the peak oil, has led to renewed interest in an electric transportation infrastructure. Electric vehicles differ from fossil fuel-powered vehicles in that the electricity they consume can be generated from a wide range of sources, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable sources such as tidal power, solar power, and wind power or any combination of those. Currently though there are more than 400 coal power plants in the U.S. alone. However it is generated, this energy is then transmitted to the vehicle through use of overhead lines, wireless energy transfer such as inductive charging, or a direct connection through an electrical cable. The electricity may then be stored on board the vehicle using a battery, flywheel, or supercapacitors. Vehicles making use of engines working on the principle of combustion can usually only derive their energy from a single or a few sources, usually non-renewable fossil fuels. A key advantage of electric or hybrid electric vehicles is regenerative braking and suspension; their ability to recover energy normally lost during braking as electricity to be restored to the on-board battery.

In 2003, the first mass-produced hybrid gasoline-electric car, the Toyota Prius, was introduced worldwide, in the same year GoinGreen in London launched the G-Wiz electric car, a quadricycle that became the world's best selling EV, and the first battery electric car produced by a major auto company, the Nissan Leaf debuted in December 2010. California auto maker Fisker Automotive was the first to introduce a premium luxury Electric Vehicle with extended range, the Fisker Karma. Other major auto companies have electric cars in development, and various nations around the world are building pilot networks of charging stations to recharge them.

History

Electric motive power started with a small drifter operated by a miniature electric motor, built by Thomas Davenport in 1835. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of four miles per hour (6 km/h). In England a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.

By the 20th century, electric cars and rail transport were commonplace, with commercial electric automobiles having the majority of the market. Over time their general-purpose commercial use reduced to specialist roles, as platform trucks, forklift trucks, tow tractors and urban delivery vehicles, such as the iconic British milk float; for most of the 20th century, the UK was the world's largest user of electric road vehicles.

Electrified trains were used for coal transport, as the motors did not use precious oxygen in the mines. Switzerland's lack of natural fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries - the nickel-iron battery - was favored by Edison for use in electric cars.

Electric vehicles were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. They were produced by Baker Electric, Columbia Electric, Detroit Electric, and others, and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.

In the 1930s, National City Lines, which was a partnership of General Motors, Firestone, and Standard Oil of California purchased many electric tram networks across the country to dismantle them and replace them with GM buses. The partnership was convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of equipment and supplies to their subsidiary companies conspiracy, but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the provision of transportation services. Electric tram line technologies could be used to recharge BEVs and PHEVs on the highway while the user drives, providing virtually unrestricted driving range. The technology is old and well established (see : Conduit current collection, Nickel-iron battery). The infrastructure has not been built.

Experimentation

In January 1990, General Motors' President introduced its EV concept two-seater, the "Impact", at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That September, the California Air Resources Board mandated major-automaker sales of EVs, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s, 800 of which were made available through three-year leases.

Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan and Toyota also produced limited numbers of EVs for California drivers. In 2003, upon the expiration of GM's EV1 leases, GM crushed them. The crushing has variously been attributed to 1) the auto industry's successful federal court challenge to California's zero-emissions vehicle mandate, 2) a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the few thousands EV1s and 3) the success of the oil and auto industries' media campaign to reduce public acceptance of electric vehicles.

A movie made on the subject in 2005-2006 was titled ''Who Killed the Electric Car?'' and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics in 2006. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the U.S. government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of this technology.

Ford released a number of their Ford Ecostar delivery vans into the market. Honda, Nissan and Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their EVs, which, like the GM EV1s, had been available only by closed-end lease. After public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers; they now sell, five years later, at over their original forty-thousand-dollar price. This lesson did not go unlearned; BMW of Canada sold off a number of Mini EV's when their Canadian testing ended.

The production of the Citroën Berlingo Electrique stopped in September 2005.

Reintroduction

With increasing prices of gasoline, electric vehicles are hitting the mainstream.

Major car makers, such as Ford, Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Peugeot-Citroen, VW, Nissan and Mitsubishi Corp., are developing new-generation electric vehicles.

Electricity sources

There are many ways to generate electricity, of varying costs, efficiency and ecological desirability.

Connection to generator plants

direct connection to generation plants as is common among electric trains, trolley buses, and trolley trucks (See also : overhead lines, third rail and conduit current collection)

Onboard generators and hybrid electric vehicle

(See articles on diesel-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid locomotion for information on electric vehicles using also combustion engines).

renewable sources such as solar power: solar vehicle

generated on-board using a diesel engine: diesel-electric locomotive

generated on-board using a fuel cell: fuel cell vehicle

generated on-board using nuclear energy: nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers

It is also possible to have hybrid electric vehicles that derive electricity from multiple sources. Such as:

on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS) and a direct continuous connection to land-based generation plants for purposes of on-highway recharging with unrestricted highway range

on-board rechargeable electricity storage system and a fueled propulsion power source (internal combustion engine): plug-in hybrid

Another form of chemical to electrical conversion is fuel cells, projected for future use.

For especially large electric vehicles, such as submarines, the chemical energy of the diesel-electric can be replaced by a nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor usually provides heat, which drives a steam turbine, which drives a generator, which is then fed to the propulsion. ''See Nuclear Power''

A few experimental vehicles, such as some cars and a handful of aircraft use solar panels for electricity.

Onboard storage

These systems are powered from an external generator plant (nearly always when stationary), and then disconnected before motion occurs, and the electricity is stored in the vehicle until needed.

on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS), called Full Electric Vehicles (FEV). Power storage methods include:

*chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries: Battery electric vehicle (BEV)

*static energy stored on the vehicle in on-board electric double-layer capacitors

*kinetic energy storage: flywheels

Batteries, electric double-layer capacitors and flywheel energy storage are forms of rechargeable on-board electrical storage. By avoiding an intermediate mechanical step, the energy conversion efficiency can be improved over the hybrids already discussed, by avoiding unnecessary energy conversions. Furthermore, electro-chemical batteries conversions are easy to reverse, allowing electrical energy to be stored in chemical form.

Electric motor

The power of a vehicle electric motor, as in other vehicles, is measured in kilowatts (kW). 100 kW is roughly equivalent to 134 horsepower, although most electric motors deliver full torque over a wide RPM range, so the performance is not equivalent, and far exceeds a fuel-powered motor, which has a limited torque curve.

Usually, direct current (DC) electricity is fed into a DC/AC inverter where it is converted to alternating current (AC) electricity and this AC electricity is connected to a 3-phase AC motor. For electric trains, DC motors are often used.

Vehicle types

It is generally possible to equip any kind of vehicle with an electric powertrain.

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle combines a conventional (usually fossil fuel-powered) powertrain with some form of electric propulsion. Common examples include hybrid electric cars such as the Toyota Prius.

On- and off-road electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are on the road in many functions, including electric cars, electric trolleybuses, electric buses, electric trucks, electric bicycles, electric motorcycles and scooters, neighborhood electric vehicles, golf carts, milk floats, and forklifts. Off-road vehicles include electrified all-terrain vehicles and tractors.

Railborne electric vehicles

The fixed nature of a rail line makes it relatively easy to power electric vehicles through permanent overhead lines or electrified third rails, eliminating the need for heavy onboard batteries. Electric locomotives, electric trams/streetcars/trolleys, electric light rail systems, and electric rapid transit are all in common use today, especially in Europe and Asia.

Since electric trains do not need to carry a heavy internal combustion engine or large batteries, they can have very good power-to-weight ratios. This allows high speed trains such as France's double-deck TGVs to operate at speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph) or higher, and electric locomotives to have a much higher power output than diesel locomotives. In addition they have higher short-term surge power for fast acceleration, and using regenerative braking can put braking power back into the electrical grid rather than wasting it.

Maglev trains are also nearly always electric vehicles.

Airborne electric vehicles

Since the beginning of the era of aviation, electric power for aircraft has received a great deal of experimentation. Currently flying electric aircraft include manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Seaborne electric vehicles

Electric boats were popular around the turn of the 20th century. Interest in quiet and potentially renewable marine transportation has steadily increased since the late 20th century, as solar cells have given motorboats the infinite range of sailboats. Submarines use batteries (charged by diesel or gasoline engines at the surface), nuclear power, or fuel cells to run electric motor driven propellers.

Spaceborne electric vehicles

Electric power has a long history of use in spacecraft. The power sources used for spacecraft are batteries, solar panels and nuclear power. Current methods of propelling a spacecraft with electricity include the arcjet rocket, the electrostatic ion thruster, the Hall effect thruster, and Field Emission Electric Propulsion. A number of other methods have been proposed, with varying levels of feasibility.

Energy and motors

Most large electric transport systems are powered by stationary sources of electricity that are directly connected to the vehicles through wires. Electric traction allows the use of regenerative braking, in which the motors are used as brakes and become generators that transform the motion of, usually, a train into electrical power that is then fed back into the lines. This system is particularly advantageous in mountainous operations, as descending vehicles can produce a large portion of the power required for those ascending. This regenerative system is only viable if the system is large enough to utilise the power generated by descending vehicles.

In the systems above motion is provided by a rotary electric motor. However, it is possible to "unroll" the motor to drive directly against a special matched track. These linear motors are used in maglev trains which float above the rails supported by magnetic levitation. This allows for almost no rolling resistance of the vehicle and no mechanical wear and tear of the train or track. In addition to the high-performance control systems needed, switching and curving of the tracks becomes difficult with linear motors, which to date has restricted their operations to high-speed point to point services.

==Properties of electric vehicles==

Components

The type of battery, the type of traction motor and the motor controller design vary according to the size, power and proposed application, which can be as small as a motorized shopping cart or wheelchair, through pedilecs, electric motorcycles and scooters, neighborhood electric vehicles, industrial fork-lift trucks and including many hybrid vehicles.

Energy sources

Although electric vehicles have few direct emissions, all rely on energy created through electricity generation, and will usually emit pollution and generate waste, unless it is generated by renewable source power plants. Since electric vehicles use whatever electricity is delivered by their electrical utility/grid operator, electric vehicles can be made more or less efficient, polluting and expensive to run, by modifying the electrical generating stations. This would be done by an electrical utility under a government energy policy, in a timescale negotiated between utilities and government.

Fossil fuel vehicle efficiency and pollution standards take years to filter through a nation's fleet of vehicles. New efficiency and pollution standards rely on the purchase of new vehicles, often as the current vehicles already on the road reach their end-of-life. Only a few nations set a retirement age for old vehicles, such as Japan or Singapore, forcing periodic upgrading of all vehicles already on the road.

Electric vehicles will take advantage of whatever environmental gains happen when a renewable energy generation station comes online, a fossil-fuel power station is decommissioned or upgraded. Conversely, if government policy or economic conditions shifts generators back to use more polluting fossil fuels and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), or more inefficient sources, the reverse can happen. Even in such a situation, electrical vehicles are still more efficient than a comparable amount of fossil fuel vehicles. In areas with a deregulated electrical energy market, an electrical vehicle owner can choose whether to run his electrical vehicle off conventional electrical energy sources, or strictly from renewable electrical energy sources (presumably at an additional cost), pushing other consumers onto conventional sources, and switch at any time between the two.

Issues with batteries

Efficiency

Because of the different methods of charging possible, the emissions produced have been quantified in different ways. Plug-in all-electric and hybrid vehicles also have different consumption characteristics.

Electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic radiation from high performance electrical motors has been claimed to be associated with some human ailments, but such claims are largely unsubstantiated except for extremely high exposures. Electric motors can be shielded within a metallic Faraday cage, but this reduces efficiency by adding weight to the vehicle, while it is not conclusive that all electromagnetic radiation can be contained.

Charging

Grid capacity

If a large proportion of private vehicles were to convert to grid electricity it would increase the demand for generation and transmission, and consequent emissions. However, overall energy consumption and emissions would diminish because of the higher efficiency of electric vehicles over the entire cycle. In the USA it has been estimated there is already nearly sufficient existing power plant and transmission infrastructure, assuming that most charging would occur overnight, using the most efficient off-peak base load sources.

In the UK however, things are different. While National Grid’s high-voltage electricity transmission system can currently manage the demand of 1 million electric cars, Steve Holliday (CEO National Grid PLC) said, “penetration up and above that becomes a real issue. Local distribution networks in cities like London may struggle to balance their grids if drivers choose to all plug in their cars at the same time."

Charging stations

Electric vehicles typically charge from conventional power outlets or dedicated charging stations, a process that typically takes hours, but can be done overnight and often gives a charge that is sufficient for normal everyday usage.

However with the widespread implementation of electric vehicle networks within large cities, such as those provided by POD Point in the UK and Europe, electric vehicle users can plug in their cars whilst at work and leave them to charge throughout the day, extending the possible range of commutes and eliminating range anxiety.

One proposed solution for daily recharging is a standardized inductive charging system such as Evatran's Plugless Power. Benefits are the convenience of with parking over the charge station and minimized cabling and connection infrastructure.

Another proposed solution for the typically less frequent, long distance travel is "rapid charging", such as the Aerovironment PosiCharge line (up to 250 kW) and the Norvik MinitCharge line (up to 300 kW). Ecotality is a manufacturer of Charging Stations and has partnered with Nissan on several installations. Battery replacement is also proposed as an alternative, although no OEM's including Nissan/Renault have any production vehicle plans. Swapping requires standardization across platforms, models and manufacturers. Swapping also requires many times more battery packs to be in the system.

One type of battery "replacement" proposed is much simpler: while the latest generation of vanadium redox battery only has an energy density similar to lead-acid, the charge is stored solely in a vanadium-based electrolyte, which can be pumped out and replaced with charged fluid. The vanadium battery system is also a potential candidate for intermediate energy storage in quick charging stations because of its high power density and extremely good endurance in daily use. System cost however, is still prohibitive. As vanadium battery systems are estimated to range between $350–$600 per kWh, a battery that can service one hundred customers in a 24 hour period at 50 kWh per charge would cost $1.8-$3 million.

According to Department of Energy research conducted at Pacific National Laboratory, 84% of existing vehicles could be switched over to plug-in hybrids without requiring any new grid infrastructure. In terms of transportation, the net result would be a 27% total reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, a 31% total reduction in nitrogen oxides, a slight reduction in nitrous oxide emissions, an increase in particulate matter emissions, the same sulfur dioxide emissions, and the near elimination of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compound emissions (a 98% decrease in carbon monoxide and a 93% decrease in volatile organic compounds). The emissions would be displaced away from street level, where they have "high human-health implications."

Battery swapping

There is another way to "refuel" electric vehicles. Instead of recharging them from electric socket, batteries could be mechanically replaced on special stations just in a couple of minutes (battery swapping).

Batteries with greatest energy density such as metal-air fuel cells usually cannot be recharged in purely electric way. Instead some kind of metallurgical process is needed, such as aluminum smelting and similar.

Silicon-air, aluminum-air and other metal-air fuel cells look promising candidates for swap batteries. Any source of energy, renewable or non-renewable, could be used to remake used metal-air fuel cells with relatively high efficiency. Investment in infrastructure will be needed. The cost of such batteries could be an issue, although they could be made with replaceable anodes and electrolyte.

Other in-development technologies

Conventional electric double-layer capacitors are being worked to achieve the energy density of lithium ion batteries, offering almost unlimited lifespans and no environmental issues. High-K electric double-layer capacitors, such as EEStor's EESU, could improve lithium ion energy density several times over if they can be produced. Lithium-sulphur batteries offer 250Wh/kg. Sodium-ion batteries promise 400Wh/kg with only minimal expansion/contraction during charge/discharge and a very high surface area. Researchers from one of the Ukrainian state universities claim that they have manufactured samples of supercapacitor based on intercalation process with 318 W-h/kg specific energy, which seem to be at least two times improvement in comparison to typical Li-ion batteries.

Safety

The United Nations in Geneva (UNECE) has adopted the first international regulation (Regulation 100) on safety of both fully electric and hybrid electric cars to ensure that cars with a high voltage electric power train, such as hybrid and fully electric vehicles, are as safe as combustion cars. The EU and Japan have already indicated that they intend to incorporate the new UNECE Regulation in their respective rules on technical standards for vehicles

Advantages and disadvantages of electric vehicles

Environmental

Due to efficiency of electric engines as compared to combustion engines, even when the electricity used to charge electric vehicles comes from a CO2 emitting source, such as a coal or gas fired powered plant, the net CO₂ production from an electric car is typically one half to one third of that from a comparable combustion vehicle.

Electric vehicles release almost no air pollutants at the place where they are operated. In addition, it is generally easier to build pollution control systems into centralised power stations than retrofit enormous numbers of cars.

Electric vehicles typically have less noise pollution than an internal combustion engine vehicle, whether it is at rest or in motion. Electric vehicles emit no tailpipe CO2 or pollutants such as NOx, NMHC, CO and PM at the point of use.

Electric motors don't require oxygen, unlike internal combustion engines; this is useful for submarines.

While electric and hybrid cars have reduced tailpipe carbon emissions, the energy they consume is sometimes produced by means that have environmental impacts. For example, the majority of electricity produced in the United States comes from fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) so use of an Electric Vehicle in the United States would not be completely carbon neutral. Electric and hybrid cars can help decrease energy use and pollution, with local no pollution at all being generated by electric vehicles, and may someday use only renewable resources, but the choice that would have the lowest negative environmental impact would be a lifestyle change in favor of walking, biking, use of public transit or telecommuting. Governments may invest in research and development of electric cars with the intention of reducing the impact on the environment where they could instead develop pedestrian-friendly communities or electric mass transit.

Mechanical

Electric motors are mechanically very simple.

Electric motors often achieve 90% energy conversion efficiency over the full range of speeds and power output and can be precisely controlled. They can also be combined with regenerative braking systems that have the ability to convert movement energy back into stored electricity. This can be used to reduce the wear on brake systems (and consequent brake pad dust) and reduce the total energy requirement of a trip. Regenerative braking is especially effective for start-and-stop city use.

They can be finely controlled and provide high torque from rest, unlike internal combustion engines, and do not need multiple gears to match power curves. This removes the need for gearboxes and torque converters.

Electric vehicles provide quiet and smooth operation and consequently have less noise and vibration than internal combustion engines. While this is a desirable attribute, it has also evoked concern that the absence of the usual sounds of an approaching vehicle poses a danger to blind, elderly and very young pedestrians. To mitigate this situation, automakers and individual companies are developing systems that produce warning sounds when electric vehicles are moving slowly, up to a speed when normal motion and rotation (road, suspension, electric motor, etc.) noises become audible.

Energy resilience

Electricity is a form of energy that remains within the country or region where it was produced and can be multi-sourced. As a result it gives the greatest degree of energy resilience.

Energy efficiency

Electric vehicle 'tank-to-wheels' efficiency is about a factor of 3 higher than internal combustion engine vehicles. It does not consume energy when it is not moving, unlike internal combustion engines where they continue running even during idling. However, looking at the well-to-wheel efficiency of electric vehicles, their emissions are comparable to an efficient gasoline or diesel in most countries because electricity generation relies on fossil fuels.

Cost of recharge

The GM Volt will cost "less than purchasing a cup of your favorite coffee" to recharge. The Volt should cost less than 2 cents per mile to drive on electricity, compared with 12 cents a mile on gasoline at a price of $3.60 a gallon. This means a trip from Los Angeles to New York would cost $56 on electricity, and $336 with gasoline. This would be the equivalent to paying 60 cents a gallon of gas.

Stabilization of the grid

Since electric vehicles can be plugged into the electric grid when not in use, there is a potential for battery powered vehicles to even out the demand for electricity by feeding electricity ''into'' the grid from their batteries during peak use periods (such as midafternoon air conditioning use) while doing most of their charging at night, when there is unused generating capacity. This Vehicle to Grid (V2G) connection has the potential to reduce the need for new power plants.

Furthermore, our current electricity infrastructure may need to cope with increasing shares of variable-output power sources such as windmills and PV solar panels. This variability could be addressed by adjusting the speed at which EV batteries are charged, or possibly even discharged.

Some concepts see battery exchanges and battery charging stations, much like gas/petrol stations today. Clearly these will require enormous storage and charging potentials, which could be manipulated to vary the rate of charging, and to output power during shortage periods, much as diesel generators are used for short periods to stabilize some national grids.

Range

Many electric designs have limited range, due to the low energy density of batteries compared to the fuel of internal combustion engined vehicles. Electric vehicles also often have long recharge times compared to the relatively fast process of refueling a tank. This is further complicated by the current scarcity of public charging stations. "Range anxiety" is a label for consumer concern about EV range.

Heating of electric vehicles

In cold climates considerable energy is needed to heat the interior of a vehicle and to defrost the windows. With internal combustion engines, this heat already exists from the combustion process from the waste heat from the engine cooling circuit and this offsets the greenhouse gases' external costs. If this is done with battery electric vehicles, this will require extra energy from the vehicles' batteries. Although some heat could be harvested from the motor(s) and battery, due to their greater efficiency there is not as much waste heat available as from a combustion engine.

However, for vehicles which are connected to the grid, battery electric vehicles can be preheated, or cooled, and need little or no energy from the battery, especially for short trips.

Newer designs are focused on using super-insulated cabins which can heat the vehicle using the body heat of the passengers. This is not enough, however, in colder climates as a driver delivers only about 100 W of heating power. A reversible AC-system, cooling the cabin during summer and heating it during winter, seems to be the most practical and promising way of solving the thermal management of the EV. Ricardo Arboix introduced (2008) a new concept based on the principle of combining the thermal-management of the EV-battery with the thermal-management of the cabin using a reversible AC-system. This is done by adding a third heat-exchanger, thermally connected with the battery-core, to the traditional heat pump/air conditioning system used in previous EV-models like the GM EV1 and Toyota RAV4 EV. The concept has proven to bring several benefits, such as prolonging the life-span of the battery as well as improving the performance and overall energy-efficiency of the EV.

Electric public transit efficiency

Shifts from private to public transport (train, trolleybus or tram) have the potential for large gains in efficiency in terms of individual miles per kWh.

Research shows people do prefer trams, because they are quieter and more comfortable and perceived as having higher status.

Therefore, it may be possible to cut liquid fossil fuel consumption in cities through the use of electric trams.

Trams may be the most energy-efficient form of public transportation, with rubber wheeled vehicles using 2/3 more energy than the equivalent tram, and run on electricity rather than fossil fuels.

In terms of net present value, they are also the cheapest—Blackpool trams are still running after 100-years, but combustion buses only last about 15-years.

Incentives and promotion

United States

In 2003 the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated there would be 55,852 Full-electric vehicles (FEV) in 2004, with an annual growth rate of 39.1 % (excluding in this estimation electric hybrids).

The EIA's 2007 Annual Energy Review (AER) estimates the actual number of FEV's on the road in 2004 as 49,536 and a preliminary estimated 2006 number of 53,526.

President Barack Obama has announced $2.4 billion for electric vehicles; $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce highly efficient batteries and their components; up to $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors and other components; and up to $400 million to demonstrate and evaluate Plug-In Hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts—like truck stop charging station, electric rail, and training for technicians to build and repair electric vehicles (greencollar jobs).

Qualifying electric vehicles purchased new are eligible for a one-time federal tax credit that equals 10% of the cost of the vehicle up to $4,000, provided under Section 179A of the Energy Policy Act of 1992; it was extended through 2007 by the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004. A tax deduction of up to $100,000 per location is available for qualified electric vehicle recharging property used in a trade or business.

In 2008, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums announced a nine-step policy plan for transforming the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the U.S." Other local and state governments have also expressed interest in electric cars.

In March 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the release of two competitive solicitations for up to $2 billion in federal funding for competitively awarded cost-shared agreements for manufacturing of advanced batteries and related drive components as well as up to $400 million for transportation electrification demonstration and deployment projects. This announcement will also help meet President Barack Obama's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which passed the Energy and Commerce Committee on May 21, 2009, has extensive provisions for electric cars. The bill calls for all electric utilities to, "develop a plan to support the use of plug-in electric drive vehicles, including heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles". The bill also provides for "smart grid integration," allowing for more efficient, effective delivery of electricity to accommodate the additional demands of plug-in electric vehicles. Finally, the bill allows for the Department of Energy to fund projects that support the development of electric vehicle and smart grid technology and infrastructure.

The House of Representatives passed legislation in late 2008, enumerating tax credits ranging from $2500 to $7500 for electric vehicle buyers. The actual credit varies depending on the specified vehicle's battery capacity. The Chevrolet Volt and the Tesla vehicles are eligible for the full $7500 credit. The bill called for the credit to be applicable for the first 250,000 vehicles sold per manufacturer. The credits were passed in 2008 but went into effect on January 1, 2009, and can be currently used on the Tesla all-electric models. The Volt, plug-in Prius, and other PHEV's and BEV's will also be eligible for the credit when they are released in the coming years. The new credits update incentives introduced in 2006, that offered credits for gas-electric hybrids, "Based on a formula determined by vehicle weight, technology, and fuel economy compared to base year models", which expired after 60,000 units per manufacturer. The new credits will only apply to plug-in EVs and all-electric vehicles.

European Union

Electrification of transport (electromobility) figures prominently in the Green Car Initiative (GCI), included in the European Economic Recovery Plan. DG TREN is supporting a large European "electromobility" project on electric vehicles and related infrastructure with a total budget of around €50-million as part of the Green Car Initiative.

There are measures to promote efficient vehicles in the Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles and in the Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services.

AVERE has a table summarizing the taxation and incentives for these vehicles in the different European countries, related to state subsidies, reduction of VAT and other taxes, insurance facilities, parking and charging facilities (including free recharging on street or in the parking areas), EVs imposed by law and banned circulation for petroleum cars, permission to use bus lanes, free road tax, toll free travel on highways, exemption from congestion charging, free or reduced parking rates, and free charging at charge points, amongst other initiatives. In Denmark, petrol cars are taxed at 180% + 25%, however, EV cars (max. 2000 kg total weight) are only taxed at 25%. Free parking is also offered to EVs in Copenhagen and other cities, and there is free recharging at some parking spaces.

EU member states

Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, Green Party minister for Energy, Eamon Ryan announced a scheme to deploy 1,500 electrical recharging stations for use with EVs. In addition, 30 high voltage fast charging units will be deployed, providing a high speed recharge facility every 60 km on interurban routes. Electricity supplied from these recharging points will be free initially. Additional incentives towards the purchase of EVs were announced, including a €5,000 capital grant. Series production electric vehicles have been exempted from VRT. Annual motor tax for electric vehicles is €104. The Government has set a target of 10% for all vehicles on Irish roads to be electric by 2020.

Finland

The Prime Minister of Finland Mr. Matti Vanhanen has mentioned that he wants to see more electric cars on Finnish roads as soon as possible and with any cost to the governmental car related tax incomes. Charging at home from motor and cabin heating outlets (common in all Nordic countries) has been determined to be a possible load on the grid. If all cars in Finland run totally on electricity, it will add 7-9 TWh annually to the load, which corresponds to 10 % of Finland's annual consumption. On-line route planners like http://www.uppladdning.nu/ list a daily growing number of free charging outlets set up by merchants and private individuals, making it possible to drive an EV for free from Helsinki through Sweden all the way to Copenhagen.

Denmark

Denmark was planning to introduce a greater number of battery driven electric cars on the streets — charged on renewable energy from the country's many windmills — ahead of the UN Climate Summit that descended on Copenhagen in December 2009. A great deal of the electricity is generated by windmills.

Germany

"National Electric Mobility Platform" (NEMP) is a German government initiative to develop Germany into a leading market for electric mobility, with about 1 million electric vehicles on its streets by 2020.

As the latest development (October 2010) DBM Energy's electric Audi A2 completes record setting drive on a single charge.

Portugal

The Portuguese Government launched in early 2008 a national Programme for Electric Mobility called Mobi.E.

MOBI.E is based on an innovative approach to electric mobility. It has an open-access and market-oriented philosophy and, as a result, it proposes a fully integrated and totally interoperable system, multi-retailer and multi-operator model. Rather than a local experience, Mobi.E is deploying a national electric mobility system. However, the system was designed to be scalable and used in multiple geographies, overcoming the current situation of lack of communication among the different electric mobility experiences that are being deployed in Europe.

Mobi.E allows any individual the access to any provider of electricity in any charging point explored by any service operator. This ensures transparency, low entry barriers and competition along the value chain, with the goal of attracting private investors and benefiting the users, contributing to a faster expansion of the system.

Therefore, Portugal is one of the first countries in the world to have an integrated policy for electric mobility and a national charging network for Electric Vehicles. By the first semester of 2011, a wide public network of 1 300 normal and 50 fast charging points will be fully implemented in the main 25 cities of the country, thus allowing electric vehicle users the ability to travel throughout the country in all comfort and safety.

In the top of the system there is a “Managing Authority” which acts as a Clearing House and intermediates the financial, information and energy flows among users, electricity sellers, operators of charging points, and the providers of any other associated service.

Additionally, several measures were taken to increase the demand for EVs in Portugal: (1) EVs are fully exempt from both the Vehicle Tax due upon purchase (Imposto Sobre Veículos) and the annual Circulation Tax (Imposto Único de Circulação); (2) Personal Income Tax provides an allowance of EUR 803 upon the purchase of EVs; (3) EVs are fully exempt from the 5%-10% company car tax rates which are part of the Corporation Income Tax; (4) The Budget Law provides for an increase of the depreciation costs related to the purchase of EVs for the purpose of Corporation Income Tax; (5) the first 5,000 EVs to be sold in Portugal will receive a 5,000€ incentive fund, and the Cash-for-Clunkers program grants an additional 1,500€ fund if a internal combustion engine vehicle built before 2000 is delivered when acquiring the new EV; (6) The Portuguese State did also commit to play a pedagogic role and defined that EVs will have a 20% share of the annual renewal of public car fleet, starting in 2011.

Spain

Spain's government aims to have 1 million electric cars on the roads by 2014 as part of a plan to cut energy consumption and dependence on expensive imports, Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián said.

United Kingdom

In October 2008 the then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged £100 million in government money to support electric, hybrid and other more environmentally friendly car projects over a five-year period to help make Britain "the European capital for electric cars".

One of these projects was the Plugged-in-Places initiative which was a UK government incentive to encourage the take up of electric vehicles. In early 2010, it was announced which areas would be included in the scheme as part of phase 1:

London

Milton Keynes

North East England

These three areas have received £30 million funding from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) to install 11,000 recharging points and help shape the future of the UKs electric vehicle infrastructure

In July 2010, the UK also announced it would honour a grant starting in January 2011 to give EV buyers a discount of 25%, of up to £5000 when buying an electric vehicle, provided the vehicle is one of a pre-approved selection of electric vehicles.

In December 2010 it was announced which areas will be included as part of phase 2 of the "Plugged-in places" program:

Midlands

Greater Manchester

East of England

Scotland

Northern Ireland

These five areas will share £20 Million of government funding in March 2011, supplied by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).

China

Many electric vehicle companies are looking to China as the leader of future electric car implementation around the world. In April 2009, Chinese officials announced their plan to make China the world's largest producer of electric cars. The Renault-Nissan Alliance will work with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITI) to help set up battery recharging networks throughout the city of Wuhan, the pilot city in the country's electrical vehicle pilot program. The corporation plans to have electric vehicles on the market by 2011. According to an April 10, 2009 ''New York Times'' article entitled "China Outlines Plans for Making Electric Cars" auto manufacturers will possess the opportunity to successfully market their cars to Chinese consumers due to the short and slow commutes that characterize Chinese transportation, and many first time car-buyers are less accustomed to the power of gasoline-powered cars, subsequently diminishing the hindering nature of lower powered electric vehicles. It reports that China would like to assist the industry with automotive innovation by launching a program that worths as much as 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion). In the same article, it also reports that the U.S. government is providing $25 billion to help cover domestic automobile makers’ research costs.

In 2010, it is reported that China, aiming to improve air quality and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, is going to commence a two-year pilot program of subsidizing buyers of alternative- energy cars in the five cities: Shanghai, Changchun, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Hefei. The subsidy will be as much as 60,000 yuan for battery electric cars and 50,000 yuan ($7,320) for plug-in hybrids. In 2009, BYD delivered 48 F3DM plug-in hybrids in the country. China also plans to expand a project of encouraging the use of energy-efficient and alternative-energy vehicles in public transport to 20 cities from 13. The chief executive of Nissan Carlos Ghosn said earlier that the auto maker would likely produce the Leaf, a battery electric vehicle, in China if there are "substantial" purchase incentives offered to buyers.

Japan

In June 2009, it is reported that consumers in Japan who purchase an electric vehicle like i-MiEV from Mitsubishi can receive subsidies that reduce cost of the vehicle to 3.209 million yen(about $33,000), down 30% from the original price of 4.59 million yen ($47,560). At that time, it is reported the program runs from April 2009 to March 2010. Electric cars, as well as hybrids, are also exempt from taxes for three years in Japan.

Production

Electric vehicles are hitting the mainstream. Automakers has showcased at the 2009 Washington Auto Show and subsequents their commitment to quickly bringing electric hybrid and all-electric vehicles to market as early as 2010.

World production race

All major carmakers, such as Ford Motor Co., Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Peugeot-Citroen, VW and Mitsubishi Corp., are developing new-generation electric vehicles. Automakers are in a new race to be the first to market an all-electric car to claim the mantle as the world's greenest automaker.

South Africa

Joule, designed by Cape Town-based Optimal Energy, made its debut at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, has a maximum driving range of 300 km. It accommodates two large-cell lithium ion battery packs. GridCars, Is a Pretoria based company promoting Commuter Cars, their launch vehicle is based on the TREV from Australia. The idea is to build ultra-light electric vehicles, placing less demand on battery requirements, and making the vehicle more affordable.

China

Shenzhen GreenWheel Electric Vehicle

Zotye International

EPower Cars

Guangzhou Langqing Electric Car Co., Ltd.

BYD F6DM (2008)

Nanjing Dongyu Electric Motorcycle&Electric; Bicycle

Tradwin Hongkong International(Distributor)

Croatia

DOK-ING XD

European Union

Cars

Malone TAZR (2010) Small private company producing lithium battery powered three wheeled electric sports car.

Morgan LifeCar (2009+)

Lightning GT (2009+)

Imperia GP (2010), from 70,248€ Excl. VAT, preorders in 2009

eRUF

Commercial

Smith Electric Vehicles Edison Van

Modec Van

Aixam ''Mega'' mini van

Power Vehicle Innovation (electric trucks and buses)

Portugal and Spain want to create the first green car in Iberia, hoping to generate 150 million euros worth of investment and 800 new jobs in the region's struggling motor industry. The green car, which could be powered by electricity. The Mobi-green car, as the vehicle is named, is being developed by two automotive research centres in Portugal and Spain using funds from both the public and private sectors.

London, England is at the forefront and a London-based entrepreneur has just unveiled a three-wheeled zero-emission electric vehicle aimed at delivery fleets. The A-Kar is powered by lithium-ion battery cells and takes five hours for a full charge, giving a range of and a top speed of 35 mph.

India

Practically the only EV to have been manufactured for several years is the Indian REVA. It is produced by REVA Electric Car Company Private Ltd. (RECC) in Bangalore, India, a company established in 1994 as a joint venture between the Maini Group India and AEV LLC, California USA. After seven years of R&D;, they commercialized the first REVA car in June 2001.

The current version of the REVA is the REVAi. It was first reserved for the Indian market, but it is now distributed in several European countries: UK (by GoinGreen under the name G-Wiz), Cyprus and Greece (by REVA Phaedra Electricity Mobility Ltd., Belgium (by Green Mobil), Norway (by Ole Chr. Bye AS), Iceland (by Perlukafarinn ehf), Spain (by Emovement)and Germany (by Elektro PKW, the REVA is also available in the Republic of Ireland GreenAer. It may be exported to the USA with a speed limiter for use as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV).

In July 2010, the government of Tamil Nadu allocated land in Ranipet to Bavina Cars India for production of electric cars. The plant is set to be operational by 2011.

In addition to Bangalore-based Reva, which currently is the only company actually selling EVs today, electric cars made in India includes:

Mahindra & Mahindra: Four-seat model by 2010. Tata: 2008-2009 (also possibly an air car). Ajanta Group: clockmaker with plans for low-cost electric vehicle. Tara: Low-cost EV less than a Tata Nano. Hero Electric: 2013 Electric car.

With Tata, Ajanta and Tara talking about 'low-cost' cars and "less than a Tata Nano".

United States

Startups are taking the lead in electric vehicles in North America

Myers Motors, a small private company

Buying and leasing

U.S. Army

The U.S. Army has announced that it will lease 4,000 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) within three years. The Army plans to use NEVs at its bases for transporting people around the base, as well as for security patrols and maintenance and delivery services. The Army accepted its first six NEVs at Virginia's Fort Myer in March 2009 and will lease a total of 600 NEVs through the rest of the year, followed by the leasing of 1,600 NEVs for each of the following two years. With a full eight-hour recharge, the NEVs can travel at a top speed of .

General Electric

On November 11, 2010, General Electric (GE) announced its plans to buy 25,000 electric vehicles by the year 2015. GE's chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, said that specifically, the company would convert half of its corporate fleet vehicles to electric vehicles by the year 2015 in an effort to give the new technology a jump start along with helping to develop a potentially big new consumer market for the vehicles. GE told the media that by electrifying its own fleet, the company will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale, and move of electric vehicles from anticipation to action. The company had originally hinted at this plan in late September.

The details of the announcement were that GE said it will buy 12,000 GM vehicles starting next year, beginning with the Chevy Volt. GE also plans to add other different types of electric vehicles as a variety of automakers expand their electric car offerings and more cars come to the market. Every major automaker has plans to introduce cars that can be powered by electricity over the next two years. In addition, GE is hoping that its planned purchase will help drive down costs by increasing production volumes and assuring automakers that they will have at least one big buyer in the near future.

Future

Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Centre of Automotive Research at the Gelsenkirchen University of Applied Sciences in Germany, said that "by 2025, all passenger cars sold in Europe will be electric or hybrid" electric.

Several startup companies like Tesla Motors, Commuter Cars, and Miles Electric Vehicles will have powerful battery-electric vehicles available to the public in 2008. Battery and energy storage technology is advancing rapidly. The average distance driven by 80% of citizens per day in a car in the US is about 50 miles (US dept of transport, 1991), which fits easily within the current range of the electric car. This range can be improved by technologies such as Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles which are capable of using traditional fuels for unlimited range, rapid charging stations for BEVs, improved energy density batteries, flow batteries, or battery swapping.

In 2006 GM began the development of a plug-in hybrid that will use a lithium-ion battery. The vehicle, initially known as the iCar, is now called the Chevrolet Volt. The basic design was first exhibited January 2007 at the North American International Auto Show. GM is planning to have this EV ready for sale to the public in the latter half of 2010. The car is to have a range. If the battery capacity falls below 30 percent a small internal combustion engine will kick in to charge the battery on the go. This in effect increases the range of the vehicle, allowing it to be driven until it can be fully charged by plugging it into a standard household AC electrical source. In December 2010 Nissan introduced the Nissan Leaf in Japan and the U.S. The Nissan Leaf is a five-door mid-size hatchback electric car. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined the range to be 117 kilometres (73 mi), with an energy consumption of 765 kJ/km (34 kWh per 100 miles).

Among other awards and recognition, the Nissan Leaf won the 2010 Green Car Vision Award award, the 2011 European Car of the Year award, the 2011 World Car of the Year, and ranks as the most efficient EPA certified vehicle for all fuels ever. The Ford C-MAX Energi was launched that year in response to the Leaf and Volt, to be available on the market within a year and estimated to have a 500-mile range.

On October 29, 2007, Shai Agassi launched Project Better Place, a company focused on building massive scale Electric Recharge Grids as infrastructure supporting the deployment of electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) in countries around the world. On January 21, PBP and the Nissan–Renault group signed a MOU - PBP will provide the battery recharging and swapping infrastructure and Renault-Nissan will mass-produce the vehicles.

Improved long term energy storage and nano batteries

There have been several developments which could bring electric vehicles outside their current fields of application, as scooters, golf cars, neighborhood vehicles, in industrial operational yards and indoor operation. First, advances in lithium-based battery technology, in large part driven by the consumer electronics industry, allow full-sized, highway-capable electric vehicles to be propelled as far on a single charge as conventional cars go on a single tank of gasoline. Lithium batteries have been made safe, can be recharged in minutes instead of hours, and now last longer than the typical vehicle. The production cost of these lighter, higher-capacity lithium batteries is gradually decreasing as the technology matures and production volumes increase.

Rechargeable Lithium-air batteries potentially offer increased range over other types and are a current topic of research.

Introduction of battery management and intermediate storage

Another improvement is to decouple the electric motor from the battery through electronic control, employing ultra-capacitors to buffer large but short power demands and regenerative braking energy. The development of new cell types combined with intelligent cell management improved both weak points mentioned above. The cell management involves not only monitoring the health of the cells but also a redundant cell configuration (one more cell than needed). With sophisticated switched wiring it is possible to condition one cell while the rest are on duty.

Faster battery recharging

By soaking the matter found in conventional lithium ion batteries in a special solution, lithium ion batteries were supposedly said to be recharged 100x faster. This test was however done with a specially-designed battery with little capacity. Batteries with higher capacity can be recharged 40x faster. The research was conducted by Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of MIT. The researchers believe the solution may appear on the market in 2011. Another method to speed up battery charging is by adding an additional oscillating electric field. This method was proposed by Ibrahim Abou Hamad from Mississippi State University. The company Epyon specializes in faster charging of electric vehicles.

Electric vehicle organizations

Worldwide

The World Electric Vehicle Association (WEVA), chairman Hisashi Ishitani, formed by:

Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)

Electric Vehicle Association of Asia Pacific (EVAAP)

European Association for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (AVERE)

North America

National Electric Drag Racing Association

The Electric Auto Association (EAA) (North America) and its chapter Plug In America.

Project EVIE

East Coast Electric Drag Racing Association

Europe

ECars-Now!

EV Cup

Eşarj Electrical Vehicle Charge Systems - Esarj

Patents

, E. W. Bender, ''Electric Motor vehicle''

See also

Battery electric vehicle

Battery swapping

BugE

Driving range

Dual-mode vehicle

Electrathon

Electrical engineering

Electric Vehicle (1899 automobile)

Electric Vehicle Company

Electric vehicle conversion

Electric vehicle production

Electric Vehicle Technical Center

Electrification

Electrocar

European Electric Motor Show

EV Cup

Green enterprise

Green racing

Green tuning

Hybrid electric vehicle

List of production battery electric vehicles

Low-emission zone

Magdeburg Environmental Forum

Mitigation of global warming

Sustainable transport

Motorized bicycle

Nanotechnology battery

Neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV)

Plug-in vehicle:

* Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

Project Get Ready

Solar-charged vehicle

Solar Golf Cart

Tribrid vehicle

Trolley bus

Trolleytruck

Vehicle glider

World car of the year

Patent encumbrance of large automotive NiMH batteries

References

Further reading

External links

Alternative Fueling Station Locator, charging stations (EERE).

European strategy on clean and energy efficient vehicles (European Commission)

Eletric Vehicles Research: News and Analysis Journal

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