In December 2010, the electric car market got official with its two biggest players to date: the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevy Volt. While both companies call their cars electric cars, they’re massively different in terms of design, efficiency and range. Understanding the difference between the main types of hybrid and electric vehicles and their environmental and economic implications will help you to make the best choice in green driving.
Electric Vehicles:
The simplest concept in green automobiles is the electric vehicle. These are cars that don’t use a drop of gas at any time, ever. They feature an electric motor or motors in place of an engine and are powered solely by a battery pack that the owner plugs into a 240V or 120V outlet to recharge.
Because they use no gas, electric vehicles are the cleanest type of vehicle. However, these vehicles offer a limited range and are best for drivers that have short commutes. The Nissan Leaf and 2012 Ford Focus Electric advertise up to 100 miles worth of range, and the (much more expensive) 2012 Tesla Model S luxury sedan offers up to 300 miles.
The United States still lacks a sufficient charging infrastructure to provide for reliable on-the-road charging, and charging a battery takes much longer than pumping a tank of gas, even with quick charge. Ford advertises fast charging as one of the advantages of its Focus Electric–fast charging for that vehicle will take between 3 to 4 hours with an optional 240 V charge station.
Bottom Line: The cleanest type of vehicle, but limited battery technology and charging infrastructure makes these impractical for those that drive longer distances. If your daily driving needs are within 100 miles and you’re okay renting or borrowing for longer trips this could be a fit.
Series Hybrids:
Ever wonder why Chevy calls the Volt an electric vehicle despite the fact that it has a four-cylinder gas engine? Well, the Volt is actually a series hybrid. The car is driven entirely by electric motor–though the full explanation is actually a little more complex than the marketing–but has a gas engine as a backup generator that powers the motor when the battery is depleted. In this way, the series hybrid offers much more range and versatility than a fully electric vehicle, while still offering robust all-electric, no-emissions driving. Series hybrids include a charging port for recharging the batteries from an electrical outlet.
The Chevy Volt offers up to around 35 miles of all-electric range and about 350 miles of total range. It is quite efficient, offering an EPA-rated 60 mpg.
Other series hybrids include upscale models like the Fisker Karma and upcoming Cadillac ELR, a car that will be based on the Chevy Volt. Series hybrids are currently the most expensive among these groups, with 2012 Volt pricing starting at $39,995 before tax incentives.
Bottom line: Series hybrids currently offer the best mix of range and efficiency, but the most expensive hybrid option.
Parallel Hybrids:
Parallel hybrids feature both gas engines and electric motors, but unlike in a series hybrid, both the motor and the engine drive the car. The gasoline engine is the primary motivator and is connected to the wheels at all times, while the electric motor is typically small and designed to assist the engine when it needs extra power, such as in acceleration and inclines. Because the demands on the motor are smaller, parallel hybrids have smaller battery packs.
Parallel hybrids offer solid fuel economy but are not typically quite as efficient as other types of hybrids, since they don’t offer as much electric power. The 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid delivers an EPA-rated 44 mpg combined and the 2011 Honda Insight gets a rating of 40/43 mpg.
Bottom Line: Though not quite as efficient as other options, parallel hybrids offer solid fuel economy for a lower price. Some start under $20,000.
Series-Parallel Hybrids:
As the name implies, series-parallel hybrids combine the design of series and parallel hybrid powertrains. The engine and motor feed into a power-splitting device that controls which unit is powering the vehicle. The engine and the motor can power the car together or separately. The engine may be decoupled from the axle while the electric motor powers the car at lower speeds. In this way, the series-parallel hybrid aims at utilizing the most efficient option at all times.
If you ever looked at the Toyota Prius’ efficiency, you’d notice that it has higher city efficiency than highway efficiency (51 mpg to 48 mpg in the 2011 model)–pretty much the opposite of every traditional car out there. That’s because the series-parallel system allows it to use electric power at the slower speeds of city driving, making driving in stop-and-go traffic more efficient than driving on the highway, which requires more output from the gas engine.
Bottom Line: Series hybrids offer excellent fuel economy for an affordable price. The Prius has long been a green leader thanks to its mix of superior fuel economy and affordable price.
Plug-In Hybrids:
Plug-in hybrids aren’t a separate category of hybrids, but indicate a separate feature. Though a plug-in system could theoretically be used with any hybrid configuration, it’s typically used with the models that have the largest batteries: electric vehicles, series hybrids and series-parallel hybrids. Plug-in capability allows the owner to recharge the battery pack between drives via an electrical outlet. Cars without plug-in capability typically have smaller battery packs and rely solely on electricity generation provided by the engine and regenerative braking to recharge the battery.
The Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and upcoming Prius Plug-In all offer plug-in capability.
