Plug-in Electric Vehicle Sales Are Getting Charged Up!
Twenty years ago, who would have thought you’d be able to power up your car or SUV by plugging it into a wall outlet? Well, that technology is not only available today, plug-in electric vehicles are now very popular with potential car buyers.
For those of you who aren’t exactly sure how a plug-in vehicle works, here are some characteristics of the plug-in hybrid.
The term plug-in hybrid is synonomous with a plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV). A Plug-in electric vehicles is a hybrid vehicle with batteries that can be recharged by plugging them into an external electric power source, like a wall outlet in your home.
The plug-in hybrids have an electric motor and an internal combustion engine and a plug to connect it to the electric power grid.
A plug-in hybrid’s all-electric range is designated by PHEV-[miles] or PHEV[kilometers]km in which the number represents the distance the vehicle can travel on battery power alone. For example, a PHEV-20 can travel twenty miles (32 km) without using its combustion engine, so it may also be designated as a PHEV32km.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 defines a plug-in electric drive vehicle as a vehicle that:
- draws motive power from a battery with a capacity of at least 4 kilowatt hours;
- can be recharged from an external source of electricity for motive power; and
- is a light-, medium-, or heavy-duty motor vehicle or nonroad vehicle.
As of 2009, the vast majority of plug-in electric vehicles on the road in the U.S. are conversions of 2004 or later Toyota Prius and Ford Escape models, which have had plug-in charging and more batteries added and their electric-only range extended.
The United States and several European countries, have enacted laws to promote PHEV technology and sales through tax credits, emissions mandates, and by financing research and development of advanced batteries and other related technologies.
source:wikipedia.org
