Hybrid Cars and Plug In Cars, What is the Difference?

Ford Fusion Hybrid
Ford Fusion Hybrid 2013 (Courtesy Ford)

With all of the new hybrid cars, electric cars and plug in vehicles, there is a lot of confusion out there.  With the help of some insights from our friend Randy at SunPoweredEVs.com maybe we can make it a little easier to understand.  Randy drives a Tesla Roadster which is a pure electric car.  The Tesla line only has batteries and an electric motor.

To start, Randy tells us there are EV’s or Electric Vehicles like the Tesla that he drives.  There are also Hybrid Electric Vehicles called HEV’s, and finally the new kids on the block are the PHEV or Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles.  I’ll use the full names to keep the descriptions clear.  The Plug in and the EV can both take advantage of Solar Technology according to Randy.  You can read more about Solar Powering your car on his website, SunPoweredEVs.com.

A hybrid can come in several forms, and a plug in hybrid is one of those forms.  Basically a hybrid has two different sources of power and sometimes two different methods of propulsion.  The power is the energy source and the propulsion is how it goes.  Among the hybrids there are two main types, full hybrid, and “mild” hybrid.  A mild hybrid doesn’t ever run on electricity alone.  If the car is moving the engine is running.  A Plug in Hybrid is a version of a full hybrid since the car can run on electricity alone.

 

A gasoline or diesel car is powered by a gas engine which is mechanically connected to the wheels to act as propulsion as well. Electric cars have a motor that is connected to the wheels so electricity is the power and the electric motor is the propulsion.

 

Sounds simple right?  Now for the fun stuff, Hybrid and Hybrid Plug In.  These vary by manufacturer and can be either type of system  For the most part though, they break down like this.

 

A basic or mild hybrid car has a gas or diesel engine and an electric motor which are both mechanically connected to the wheels by a special kind of transmission.  This is the magic of a hybrid.  The transmission allows the gas engine to spin the electric motor to generate electricity and also spin the tires to make it go.  Sometimes the gas engine is not even running, so the hybrid is in electric mode.  Toyota has the most advanced system called the HSD.

 

Electric mode for hybrids are usually short speeds and short distances.   When the car is stopped and the battery is below a certain level, the engine will start and change the batteries without the car going anywhere.  When you push the pedal to move, the transmission connects both the electric and the gas motor at the same time.

 

In this mode you can either be using gas propulsion and gas charging of the batteries or Gas propulsion and electric propulsion which depletes the batteries.  This is normally climbing hills, passing or getting on the freeway.  These are normally times when more power than either the gas or electric motor have on their own.

 

So what makes a plug in different?  If you convert a hybrid to a plug in, basically nothing is different.  A plug in hybrid like the Chevy Volt is really an electric car with an onboard generator powered by gas.  Think of it like a generator for a motorhome.  When you are in an RV camp, you plug into the camp and leave the generator off.  When you are out and about and want to run the air conditioning or watch TV, you run the generator.

 

This is how PHEV or Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles normally work.  The gas or diesel motor is not connected to the wheels in any way mechanical.  If the batteries are running low, the gas generator starts and provides enough power to both charge the batteries and run the electric motor.

 

That is why a plug in car can go so much farther without running the engine.  Since they are really an electric car they have much larger battery packs than  traditional hybrid cars.   When you convert a traditional hybrid and reprogram the computer to let the batteries run down longer before the engine starts, you are still working with the smaller battery packs.  There are some kits however that also increase the battery packs and therefore the electric only range.

 

Toyota Prius models that are converted to plug in go up to 50 miles according to some conversion kit builders before the engine starts to help.  A factory Prius plug in can go only 11  miles before needing a plug in or starting the motor.  For many people this is plenty.  Just in case it isn’t,  A Chevy Volt can go more than 30 in most cases before the motor starts.  If you drive less than 30 miles one way, it is possible with a Plug In that you would run in electric mode only, and never use the gas if you can charge at work.

 

My neighbor drives a Chevy Volt and with his solar panels on his house, he only pays about $20 a month to charge the car for the drive home.  That is as close to a pure electric as you can get.  Many people will prefer the comfort of a plug in Hybrid over an electric car for the comfort of knowing they can keep going if they can’t find a charging station.  Our infrastructure still has a ready supply of petroleum fuel if your batteries get low.

 

Charge Point Electric Charging Stations
Electric Car Charging stations by Chargepoint

While charging stations are easy to find in Newport Beach, they aren’t as easy to find on I-10 heading to Las Vegas.  There is a company in Arizona that makes a high output thin film solar panel for the roof of a Prius and claims a range of up to 100 miles per day without gas.  Why those panels aren’t on every hybrid out west I can’t figure.

 

Pure electrics like the Tesla Roadster and the Tesla S have battery packs designed to go much further between charges.  The Tesla S is claimed to have a range of over 200 miles between charges which is good enough for any commuter in LA.  Imagine a Tesla S with one of those cool thin film solar chargers on the roof!  Better yet, the Tesla Roadster with one molded on the front to replace the hood so you could go topless.  Now that would be a true sun chaser.

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