Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Bus Project
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A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a
hybrid electric vehicle A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system with an electric propulsion system (hybrid vehicle drivetrain). The presence of the electric powertrain is intended ...
whose
battery pack A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density. The term battery ...
can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
-powered generator. Most PHEVs are
passenger car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...
s, but there are also PHEV versions of
commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to t ...
s and vans, utility trucks,
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
s,
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
s,
mopeds A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typi ...
, and even military vehicles. Similar to all-electric vehicles (BEVs), PHEVs displace
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
from the car
tailpipe An exhaust system is used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes. Depending on the overall system ...
exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law *Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law ** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in ...
to the
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...
generators powering the
electricity grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...
. These centralized generators may be of renewable energy (e.g. solar,
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
or hydroelectric) and largely emission-free, or have an overall lower
emission intensity An emission intensity (also carbon intensity or C.I.) is the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule o ...
than individual internal combustion engines. Compared to conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), PHEVs have a larger battery pack that can be charged from the power grid, which is also more efficient and can cost less than using only the on-board generator, and also often have a more powerful electric output capable of longer and more frequent EV mode driving, helping to reduce
operating cost Operating costs or operational costs, are the expenses which are related to the operation of a business, or to the operation of a device, component, piece of equipment or facility. They are the cost of resources used by an organization just to main ...
s. A PHEV's battery pack is smaller than all-electric vehicles for the same vehicle weight (due to the necessity to still accommodate its combustion engine and hybrid drivetrain), but has the
auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: * A backup site or system In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...
option of switching back to using its
gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
/
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
like a conventional HEV if the battery runs low, alleviating
range anxiety Range anxiety is the driver's fear that a vehicle has insufficient energy storage (fuel and/or battery capacity) to cover the road distance needed to reach its intended destination, and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants mid-way. The term, ...
especially for places that lack sufficient charging infrastructure. Mass-produced PHEVs have been available to the public in China and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
since 2010. By the end of 2017, there were over 40 models of highway-legal series-production PHEVs for retail sales, and are available mainly in China, Japan, the United States,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
. The top-selling models are the
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
, the Chevrolet Volt family and the
Toyota Prius PHV The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
. ''See also detailed 2016 sales and cumulative global sales in the two graphs.'' , the global stock of PHEVs totaled 2.4 million units, representing one-third of the stock of plug-in electric passenger cars on the world's roads. ''See Statistical annex, pp. 247–252 (See Tables A.1 and A.12). The global stock of plug-in electric passenger vehicles totaled 7.2 million cars at the end of 2019, of which, 47% were on the road in China. The stock of plug-in cars consist of 4.8 million battery electric cars (66.6%) and 2.4 million plug-in hybrids (33.3%). In addition, the stock of light commercial plug-in electric vehicles in use totaled 378 thousand units in 2019, and about half a million electric buses were in circulation, most of which are in China.'' , China had the world's largest stock of PHEVs with 767,900 units, followed by the United States with 567,740, and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
with 159,910.


Terminology

A plug-in hybrid's all-electric range is designated by PHEV-'' iles' or PHEV'' ilometers'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. For these cars to be battery operated, they go through charging processes that use different currents. These currents are known as Alternating Current (AC) used for on board chargers and Direct Current (DC) used for external charging. Other popular terms sometimes used for plug-in hybrids are "grid-connected hybrids", "Gas-Optional Hybrid Electric Vehicle" (GO-HEV) or simply "gas-optional hybrids". GM calls its
Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...
plug-in hybrid an "Extended-Range Electric Vehicle".


History


Invention and early interest

The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid, produced as early as 1899, was the first hybrid electric car. ''See year 1898''. Early hybrids could be charged from an external source before operation. However, the term "plug-in hybrid" has come to mean a hybrid vehicle that can be charged from a standard electrical wall socket. The term "plug-in hybrid electric vehicle" was coined by
UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
Professor Andrew Frank, who has been called the "father of the modern plug-in hybrid". See Chapter 4 The July 1969 issue of '' Popular Science'' featured an article on the
General Motors XP-883 In the late 1960s, General Motors Company directed its GM R&D and Pontiac divisions to develop concept mini-cars for urban drivers. GM developed the XP-883 an experimental plug-in hybrid car demonstrated by General Motors in 1969. Primarily inte ...
plug-in hybrid. The concept commuter vehicle housed six lead–acid batteries in the trunk area and a transverse-mounted DC electric motor turning a front-wheel drive. The car could be plugged into a standard North American 120 volt AC outlet for recharging.


Revival of interest

In 2003,
Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
began selling the
Elect'road The Elect'Road is a plug-in series hybrid version of Renault's popular Kangoo. Sales began in Europe in 2003, mainly in France, Norway and a few in the UK. The Elect'Road was sold alongside Renault's Electri'cité electric-drive Kangoo battery e ...
, a plug-in series hybrid version of their popular
Kangoo The Renault Kangoo is a family of multi purpose vehicles manufactured and marketed by Renault since 1997, in commercial as well as passenger variants, across three generations. For the European market, the Kangoo is manufactured at the MCA plan ...
, in Europe. In addition to its engine, it could be plugged into a standard outlet and recharged to 95% range in about 4 hours. After selling about 500 vehicles, primarily in France, Norway and the UK, the Elect'road was redesigned in 2007. With the availability of hybrid vehicles and the rising gas prices in the United States starting around 2004, interest in plug-in hybrids increased.Curtis D. Anderson, Judy Anderson,'' Electric and Hybrid Cars: A History, 2d ed.'' McFarland, 2010, , page 156 Some plug-in hybrids were conversions of existing hybrids; for example, the 2004
CalCars CalCars (also known as The California Cars Initiative) was a charitable, non-profit organization founded in 2002 to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) as a key to addressing oil dependence and global warming both nationally and int ...
conversion of a Prius to add lead acid batteries and a range of up to using only electric power. In 2006, both
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and General Motors announced plans for plug-in hybrids.General Motors (November 29, 2006
"GM Announces Intention to Produce Plug-in Hybrid SUV"
. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
GM's Saturn Vue project was cancelled, but the Toyota plug-in was certified for road use in Japan in 2007. In 2007, Quantum Technologies and
Fisker Coachbuild Fisker Coachbuild was a car design firm based in Orange County, California. The company produced custom luxury cars. It produced the Tramonto and Latigo CS. It also designed and manufactured aftermarket parts such as aluminum alloy wheels, ...
, LLC announced the launch of a joint venture in
Fisker Automotive Fisker Automotive was an American company known for producing the Fisker Karma, which was one of the world's first production luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, and first ...
. Fisker intended to build a US$80,000 luxury PHEV-50, the
Fisker Karma The Fisker Karma is a luxury plug-in range-extended electric sports sedan produced by Fisker Automotive in 2012. The cars were manufactured at Valmet Automotive in Finland. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated th ...
, initially scheduled for late 2009.Shirouzu, N., and Buckman, R. (January 14, 2008
"Electric-Car Firms Get Star Investors,"
''Wall Street Journal''
In 2007,
Aptera Motors Aptera Motors (formerly Accelerated Composites) is an American startup high-efficiency car company based in Carlsbad, California. The original company, Aptera Motors, Inc., was founded in 2005 and liquidated in 2011. In 2019, Aptera Motors w ...
announced their Typ-1 two-seater. However, the company folded in December 2011. In 2007, Chinese car manufacturer BYD Auto, owned by China's largest mobile phone battery maker, announced it would be introducing a production PHEV-60 sedan in China in the second half of 2008. BYD exhibited it in January 2008 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Based on BYD's midsize F6 sedan, it uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFeP04)-based batteries instead of lithium-ion, and can be recharged to 70% of capacity in 10 minutes.Edmunds (October 15, 2007
"Detroit Show Preview: BYD's New Plug-in Hybrid on Sale Next Year"
''Edmunds Inside Line''. Retrieved October 26, 2007.
In 2007 Ford delivered the first Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid of a fleet of 20 demonstration PHEVs to
Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of ap ...
. As part of this demonstration program Ford also developed the first
flexible-fuel A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or ...
plug-in hybrid
SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...
, which was delivered in June 2008. This demonstration fleet of plug-ins has been in field testing with utility company fleets in the U.S. and Canada, and during the first two years since the program began, the fleet has logged more than 75,000 miles. In August 2009 Ford delivered the first Escape Plug-in equipped with intelligent vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications and control system technology, and Ford plans to equip all 21 plug-in hybrid Escapes with the vehicle-to-grid communications technology. Sales of the Escape PHEV were scheduled for 2012. On January 14, 2008, Toyota announced they would start sales of lithium-ion battery PHEVs by 2010, but later in the year Toyota indicated they would be offered to commercial fleets in 2009.Ohnsman, A. (August 28, 2008
"Toyota Plans Electric Car, Earlier Plug-In Prius Test"
''Bloomberg''. Retrieved December 2008.
On March 27, the
California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is the "clean air agency" of the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Moto ...
(CARB) modified their regulations, requiring automobile manufacturers to produce 58,000 plug-in hybrids during 2012 through 2014. This requirement is an asked-for alternative to an earlier mandate to produce 25,000 pure
zero-emissions vehicle A zero-emission vehicle, or ZEV, is a vehicle that does not emit exhaust gas or other pollutants from the onboard source of power. The California definition also adds that this includes under any and all possible operational modes and conditions ...
s, reducing that requirement to 5,000. On June 26,
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
announced that they would be introducing production plug-ins based on the
Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
compact. Volkswagen uses the term 'TwinDrive' to denote a PHEV.Thompson (June 26, 2008
"VW starts testing electric cars, sees launching them by 2010"
(Forbes) accessed December 2009
In September,
Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
was reported to be planning PHEVs. On September 23, Chrysler announced that they had prototyped a plug-in
Jeep Wrangler The Jeep Wrangler is a series of compact and mid-size four-wheel drive off-road SUVs manufactured by Jeep since 1986 and is currently in its fourth generation. The Wrangler JL, the most recent generation, was revealed in late 2017 and is produ ...
and a Chrysler Town and Country mini-van, both PHEV-40s with series powertrains, and an all-electric Dodge sports car, and said that one of the three vehicles would go into production. On October 3, the U.S. enacted the
Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 Public Law 110-343 () is a US Act of Congress signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, which was designed to mitigate the growing financial crisis of the late-2000s by giving relief to so-called "Troubled Assets." Three divisions ...
. The legislation provided tax credits for the purchase of
plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
s of battery capacity over 4 kilowatt-hours.Schoenberger, R. (October 2, 2008
"Bailout bill includes tax breaks for buyers of plug-in hybrid vehicles,"
''Cleveland Plain Dealer''
Vijayenthiran, V. (October 3, 2008

''MotorAuthority.com''
The federal tax credits were extended and modified by the
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress () that would have established a variant of an emissions trading plan similar to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The bill ...
, but now the battery capacity must be over 5 kWh and the credit phases out after the automaker has sold at least 200,000 vehicles in the U.S.


Series production

On December 15, 2008, BYD Auto began selling its F3DM in China, becoming the first production plug-in hybrid sold in the world, though initially was available only for corporate and government customers.Crippen, A. (December 15, 2008
"Warren Buffett's Electric Car Hits the Chinese Market, But Rollout Delayed For U.S. & Europe"
CNBC. Retrieved December 2008.
Balfour, F. (December 15, 2008

''Business Week''. Retrieved December 2008.
Sales to the general public began in
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
in March 2010, but because the F3DM nearly doubles the price of cars that run on conventional fuel, BYD expects subsidies from the local government to make the plug-in affordable to personal buyers. Toyota tested 600
pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content start ...
Prius Plug-ins in Europe and North America in 2009 and 2010.
Volvo Cars Volvo Cars ( sv, Volvo personvagnar, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company ...
built two demonstration versions of Volvo V70 Plug-in Hybrids in 2009 but did not proceed with production. The V60 plug-in hybrid was released in 2011 and was available for sale. In October 2010
Lotus Engineering Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports cars and Auto racing, racing cars noted for their light weight and fine Automobile handling, handling characteristics. Lotus was pre ...
unveiled the
Lotus CityCar The Lotus Ethos is a fully plug-in hybrid concept car that was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show as the "Lotus CityCar". The vehicle was developed by Lotus Engineering, a separate division from Lotus Cars. The CityCar has a lithium battery p ...
, a plug-in series hybrid
concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...
designed for
flex-fuel A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or ...
operation on
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
, or methanol as well as regular gasoline. The lithium battery pack provides an all-electric range of , and the 1.2-liter flex-fuel engine kicks in to allow to extend the range to more than . GM officially launched the Chevrolet Volt in the U.S. on November 30, 2010, and retail deliveries began in December 2010. Its sibling the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera was launched in Europe between late 2011 and early 2012. The first deliveries of the
Fisker Karma The Fisker Karma is a luxury plug-in range-extended electric sports sedan produced by Fisker Automotive in 2012. The cars were manufactured at Valmet Automotive in Finland. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rated th ...
took place in July 2011, and deliveries to retail customers began in November 2011. The
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
was released in Japan in January 2012, followed by the United States in February 2012. Deliveries of the Prius PHV in Europe began in late June 2012. The
Ford C-Max Energi The Ford C-Max (stylized as Ford C-MAX and previously called the Ford Focus C-Max) is a car produced by the Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2019. It has a five-door compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) design. The Ford Grand C-Max has a longer wh ...
was released in the U.S. in October 2012, the
Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid The Volvo V60 is a compact wagon produced by Volvo Cars related to the S60. The vehicle was first released in autumn 2010, facelifted in 2014, and is in its second generation since 2018. The second generation V60 was launched in 2018 based on t ...
in Sweden by late 2012. The
Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid The ninth generation Accord is a mid-size car introduced by Honda in 2012 which received a refreshed front fascia, grill, headlights, tail lights and alloy wheel designs for the 2016 model year. With the discontinuation of the smaller European an ...
was released in selected U.S. markets in January 2013, and the
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
in Japan in January 2013, becoming the first
SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...
plug-in hybrid in the market. Deliveries of the
Ford Fusion Energi The Ford Fusion Hybrid is a gasoline-electric hybrid powered version of the mid-sized Ford Fusion sedan manufactured and marketed by Ford, now in its second generation. A plug-in hybrid version, the Ford Fusion Energi, was released in the U.S. ...
began in February 2013. BYD Auto stopped production of its BYD F3DM due to low sales, and its successor, the
BYD Qin The BYD Qin (pronounced "Chin") is a compact sedan developed by BYD Auto, available as an all-electric car, as a plug-in hybrid and as an internal combustion engine vehicle. The plug-in hybrid variant (which was the only variant available in t ...
, began sales in Costa Rica in November 2013, with sales in other countries in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
scheduled to begin in 2014. Qin deliveries began in China in mid December 2013. Deliveries to retail customers of the limited edition
McLaren P1 The McLaren P1 is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car produced by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. Debuted at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, sales of the P1 began in the United Kingdom in October 2013 and all ...
supercar began in the UK in October 2013, and the
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid The Porsche Panamera is a mid/ full-sized luxury car (E-segment/ F-segment in Europe) manufactured and marketed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche across two generations using a front-engine, rear or all-wheel drive configuration. Po ...
began deliveries in the U.S. in November 2013. The first retail deliveries of the
Cadillac ELR The Cadillac ELR is a two-door, four-passenger luxury plug-in hybrid compact coupé manufactured and marketed by Cadillac for model years (MY) 2014 and 2016 – with a hiatus for MY 2015. Using a retuned version of the Chevrolet Volt's Voltec E ...
took place in the U.S. in December 2013. The
BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was rel ...
and the limited edition
Volkswagen XL1 The Volkswagen XL1 (VW 1-litre) is a two-person limited production diesel-powered plug-in hybrid produced by Volkswagen. The XL1 car was designed to be able to travel 100 km on 1 litre of diesel (), while being both roadworthy and practical ...
were released to retail customers in Germany in June 2014. The
Porsche 918 Spyder The Porsche 918 Spyder is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche. The 918 Spyder is powered by a naturally aspirated V8 engine, developing at 8,700RPM, with two electric ...
was also released in Europe and the U.S. in 2014. The first units of the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron and
Volkswagen Golf GTE The Volkswagen Golf (Mk7) is a small family car (C-segment) produced by German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen, as the seventh generation of the Golf and the successor to the Golf Mk6. It was introduced in Berlin on 4 September 2012, before a ...
were registered in Germany in August 2014. In December 2014 BMW announced the group is planning to offer plug-in hybrid versions of all its core-brand models using eDrive technology developed for its
BMW i The BMW i is a sub-brand of BMW founded in 2011 to design and manufacture plug-in electric vehicles. The company initially released two vehicles: the BMW i3, i3 all-electric car and the BMW i8, i8 plug-in hybrid. The electric car, all-electric ...
brand plug-in vehicles (
BMW i3 The BMW i3 is a B-segment, high-roof hatchback manufactured and marketed by BMW with an electric powertrain using rear-wheel drive via a single-speed transmission and an underfloor Lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion battery pack and an optional R ...
and BMW i8). The goal of the company is to use plug-in technology to continue offering high performance vehicles while reducing emissions below 100g/km. At the time of the announcement the carmaker was already testing a
BMW 3 Series The BMW 3 Series is a line of compact executive cars manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. It is the successor to the 02 Series and has been produced in seven generations. The first generation of the 3 Series was only avail ...
plug-in hybrid prototype. The first model available for retail sales will be the 2016 BMW X5 eDrive, with the production version unveiled at the 2015
Shanghai Motor Show Auto Shanghai (), officially known as the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (), is a biennial international automobile show that alternates with the Beijing Auto Show (Auto China) as China's yearly international automotive ...
. The second generation Chevrolet Volt was unveiled at the January 2015 North American International Auto Show, and retail deliveries began in the U.S. and Canada in October 2015. In March 2015
Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...
said they planned on making a plug-in hybrid version of every model series, and that they expect plug-in hybrids, together with natural gas vehicles and battery-electric drive systems, to have a key contribution in achieving the company's targets. The Audi Q7 e-tron will follow the A3 e-tron already in the market. Also in March 2015,
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
announced that the company's main emphasis regarding alternative drives in the next years will be on plug-in hybrids. The carmaker plans to introduce 10 new plug-in hybrid models by 2017, and its next release was the Mercedes-Benz C 350 e, Mercedes' second plug-in hybrid after the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid. Other plug-in hybrid released in 2015 are the
BYD Tang The BYD Tang is a crossover SUV manufactured by BYD Auto, available as an all-electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid or a conventional ICE vehicle. The vehicle is the second model of BYD's "Dynasty" series passenger vehicles, and gets its name from ...
,
Volkswagen Passat GTE The Volkswagen Passat (B8) is a mid-size car/ large family car manufactured by Volkswagen that is available in a 4-door saloon and a 5-door estate body style sold as "Variant" in some markets. It was first introduced at the Volkswagen Design Cente ...
,
Volvo XC90 T8 The Volvo XC90 is a mid-size luxury SUV manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars since 2002 and now in its second generation. The first generation was introduced at the 2002 North American International Auto Show and used the Volvo P2 platfor ...
, and the Hyundai Sonata PHEV. Global combined Volt/Ampera family sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in October 2015.''About 102,000 units of the Volt/Ampera family have been sold worldwide by the end of October 2015''. By the end of 2015, over 517,000 highway legal plug-in hybrid electric cars have been sold worldwide since December 2008 out of total global sales of more than 1.25 million light-duty plug-in electric cars. ''About 520,000 highway legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles were sold worldwide in 2015, with cumulative global sales reaching 1,235,000
Plug-in hybrids represent about 40% of global plug-in electric vehicle sales
.''
In February 2016, BMW announced the introduction of the "iPerformance" model designation, which will be given to all BMW plug-in hybrid vehicles from July 2016. The aim is to provide a visible indicator of the transfer of technology from
BMW i The BMW i is a sub-brand of BMW founded in 2011 to design and manufacture plug-in electric vehicles. The company initially released two vehicles: the BMW i3, i3 all-electric car and the BMW i8, i8 plug-in hybrid. The electric car, all-electric ...
to the BMW core brand. The new designation will be used first on the plug-in hybrid variants of the new BMW 7 Series, the
BMW 740e iPerformance The sixth generation of the BMW 7 Series consists of the BMW G11 (normal version) and BMW G12 (long-wheelbase version) luxury saloons. The G11/G12 generation has been produced by BMW since 2015, and is often collectively referred to as the G11. ...
, and the 3 Series, the
BMW 330e iPerformance The sixth generation of the BMW 3 Series consists of the BMW F30 (sedan version), BMW F31 (wagon version, marketed as 'Touring') and BMW F34 (fastback version, marketed as 'Gran Turismo') compact executive cars. The F30/F31/F34 generation was pr ...
. Hyundai Motor Company made the official debut of its three model
Hyundai Ioniq The Hyundai Ioniq is a compact five-door liftback manufactured and marketed by Hyundai. The nameplate ''Ioniq'' is a portmanteau of '' ion'' and ''unique''. It is marketed as the first automobile to be offered without a standard internal combu ...
line-up at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The Ioniq family of electric drive vehicles includes the Ioniq Plug-in, which is expected to achieve a fuel economy of in all-electric mode. The Ioniq Plug-in is scheduled to be released in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2017. The second generation Prius plug-in hybrid, called
Prius Prime The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
in the U.S. and Prius PHV in Japan, was unveiled at the 2016
New York International Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan in late March or early April. It is held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first S ...
. Retail deliveries of the Prius Prime began in the U.S. in November 2016, and is scheduled to be released Japan by the end of 2016. The Prime has an EPA-rated all-electric range of , over twice the range of the first generation model, and an EPA rated fuel economy of in
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
(EV mode), the highest MPGe rating in EV mode of any vehicle rated by EPA. Unlike its predecessor, the Prime runs entirely on electricity in EV mode. Global sales of the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV passed the 100,000 unit milestone in March 2016.'' , the world's top selling plug-in electric cars are the Nissan Leaf (over 218,000), Tesla Model S (about 120,000), Chevrolet Volt and Ampera variants (over 110,000), Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (over 100,000), and Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (75,000). All figures cumulative global sales since market launch.'''' , a total of 65,529 units have been sold in Europe (21,052 in the UK and 44,477 in the rest of Europe), 33,730 in Japan, 2,015 in Australia and 259 in the rest of the world, for a total of 101,533 units sold worldwide.''
BYD Qin The BYD Qin (pronounced "Chin") is a compact sedan developed by BYD Auto, available as an all-electric car, as a plug-in hybrid and as an internal combustion engine vehicle. The plug-in hybrid variant (which was the only variant available in t ...
sales in China reached the 50,000 unit milestone in April 2016, becoming the fourth plug-in hybrid to pass that mark. In June 2016, Nissan announced it will introduce a compact
range extender A range extender is a fuel-based auxiliary power unit (APU) that extends the range of a battery electric vehicle by driving an electric generator that charges the vehicle's battery. This arrangement is known as a series hybrid drivetrain. The ...
car in Japan before March 2017. The series plug-in hybrid will use a new hybrid system, dubbed e-Power, which debuted with the Nissan Gripz
concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by ...
crossover showcased at the 2015
Frankfurt Auto Show The International Motor Show Germany or International Mobility Show Germany, in German known as the ''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'' (''IAA'' – International Automobile Exhibition), is one of the world's largest mobility shows. It cons ...
. In January 2016, Chrysler debuted its plug-in hybrid minivan, the
Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid The Chrysler Pacifica is a minivan produced by the Chrysler division of Stellantis. It is unrelated to the discontinued crossover and concept vehicles by the same name and replaced the Chrysler Town & Country for the 2017 model year. It is ...
, with an EPA rated electric-only range of . This was the first hybrid minivan of any type. It was first sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2017. In December 2017, Honda began retail deliveries of the Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid in the United States and Canada, with an EPA rated electric-only range of .


Technology


Powertrains

PHEVs are based on the same three basic powertrain architectures of conventional hybrids; a ''series hybrid'' is propelled by electric motors only, a ''parallel hybrid'' is propelled both by its internal combustion engine and by electric motors operating concurrently, and a ''series-parallel hybrid'' operates in either mode. While a plain hybrid vehicle charges its
battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
from its engine only, a plug-in hybrid can obtain a significant amount of the energy required to recharge its battery from external sources.


Charging systems

The battery charger can be on-board or external to the vehicle. The process for an on-board charger is best explained as AC power being converted into DC power, resulting in the battery being charged. On-board chargers are limited in capacity by their weight and size, and by the limited capacity of general-purpose AC outlets. Dedicated off-board chargers can be as large and powerful as the user can afford, but require returning to the charger; high-speed chargers may be shared by multiple vehicles. Using the electric motor's inverter allows the motor windings to act as the transformer coils, and the existing high-power inverter as the AC-to-DC charger. As these components are already required on the car, and are designed to handle any practical power capability, they can be used to create a very powerful form of on-board charger with no significant additional weight or size.
AC Propulsion AC Propulsion is a San Dimas, California, USA company founded in 1992 by Alan Cocconi, Wally Rippel, and Paul Carosa, that specializes in alternating current-based drivetrain systems for electric vehicles. It offers AC-induction traction motors ...
uses this charging method, referred to as "reductive charging".


Modes of operation

A plug-in hybrid operates in charge-depleting and charge-sustaining modes. Combinations of these two modes are termed
blended mode Blended mode is a charge-depleting mode of operation for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in which most of the motive energy is supplied by the battery pack but supplemented by the internal combustion engine (ICE). In contrast, all-electr ...
or mixed-mode. These vehicles can be designed to drive for an extended range in
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
, either at low speeds only or at all speeds. These modes manage the vehicle's battery discharge strategy, and their use has a direct effect on the size and type of battery required: Charge-depleting mode allows a fully charged PHEV to operate exclusively (or depending on the vehicle, almost exclusively, except during hard acceleration) on electric power until its battery state of charge is depleted to a predetermined level, at which time the vehicle's internal combustion engine or fuel cell will be
engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
. This period is the vehicle's all-electric range. This is the only mode that a
battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, ...
can operate in, hence their limited range. Mixed mode describes a trip using a combination of multiple modes. For example, a car may begin a trip in low speed charge-depleting mode, then enter onto a freeway and operate in blended mode. The driver might exit the freeway and drive without the internal combustion engine until all-electric range is exhausted. The vehicle can revert to a charge sustaining-mode until the final destination is reached. This contrasts with a charge-depleting trip which would be driven within the limits of a PHEV's all-electric range.


Electric power storage

The optimum battery size varies depending on whether the aim is to reduce fuel consumption, running costs, or emissions, but a 2009 study concluded that "The best choice of PHEV battery capacity depends critically on the distance that the vehicle will be driven between charges. Our results suggest that for urban driving conditions and frequent charges every 10 miles or less, a low-capacity PHEV sized with an AER (all-electric range) of about 7 miles would be a robust choice for minimizing gasoline consumption, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions. For less frequent charging, every 20–100 miles, PHEVs release fewer GHGs, but HEVs are more cost effective." PHEVs typically require deeper
battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
charging and discharging cycles than conventional hybrids. Because the number of full cycles influences battery life, this may be less than in traditional HEVs which do not deplete their batteries as fully. However, some authors argue that PHEVs will soon become standard in the automobile industry. Design issues and trade-offs against battery life, capacity, heat dissipation, weight, costs, and safety need to be solved. Advanced battery technology is under development, promising greater energy densities by both mass and volume, and battery life expectancy is expected to increase. The cathodes of some early 2007 lithium-ion batteries are made from lithium-cobalt metal oxide. This material is expensive, and cells made with it can release oxygen if overcharged. If the cobalt is replaced with iron phosphates, the cells will not burn or release oxygen under any charge. At early 2007 gasoline and electricity prices, the break-even point is reached after six to ten years of operation. The payback period may be longer for plug-in hybrids, because of their larger, more expensive batteries. Nickel–metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries can be recycled; Toyota, for example, has a recycling program in place under which dealers are paid a US$200 credit for each battery returned. However, plug-in hybrids typically use larger battery packs than comparable conventional hybrids, and thus require more resources. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has suggested that utilities could purchase used batteries for backup and load leveling purposes. They state that while these used batteries may be no longer usable in vehicles, their residual capacity still has significant value.Woody, Todd
"PG&E's Battery Power Plans Could Jump Start Electric Car Market".
(Blog). ''Green Wombat'', 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
More recently, General Motors (GM) has said it has been "approached by utilities interested in using recycled Volt batteries as a power storage system, a secondary market that could bring down the cost of the Volt and other plug-in vehicles for consumers".Jansen, Matt
"Toyota laughs while Chevy Volt battery power is ripped in half".
(Blog). ''tech.blorge'', 2008-6-16. Retrieved 2008-6-17.
Ultracapacitor A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable b ...
s (or "supercapacitors") are used in some plug-in hybrids, such as
AFS Trinity AFS Trinity Power Corporation is an American corporation headquartered in Medina, WA with an engineering center in Livermore, CA that develops technology for plug-in hybrids. The company has developed PHEV technology that actively combines batter ...
's concept prototype, to store rapidly available energy with their high
power density Power density is the amount of power (time rate of energy transfer) per unit volume. In energy transformers including batteries, fuel cells, motors, power supply units etc., power density refers to a volume, where it is often called volum ...
, in order to keep batteries within safe resistive heating limits and extend battery life. The CSIRO's UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery in a single unit, creating a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies used in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).


Conversions of production vehicles

There are several companies that are converting fossil fuel non-hybrid vehicles to plug-in hybrids: Aftermarket conversion of an existing production hybrid to a plug-in hybrid typically involves increasing the capacity of the vehicle's
battery pack A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density. The term battery ...
and adding an on-board AC-to-DC charger. Ideally, the vehicle's powertrain software would be reprogrammed to make full use of the battery pack's additional energy storage capacity and power output. Many early plug-in hybrid
electric vehicle conversion In automobile engineering, electric vehicle conversion is the replacement of a car's combustion engine and connected components with an electric motor and batteries, to create an all-electric vehicle (AEV). There are two main aims for converting ...
s have been based on the
Toyota Prius The is a car built by Toyota which has a hybrid drivetrain, combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Initially offered as a four-door sedan, it has been produced only as a five-door liftback since 2003. In 2007, ...
. Some of the systems have involved replacement of the vehicle's original NiMH battery pack and its electronic control unit. Others add an additional battery back onto the original battery pack.


Target market

In recent years, demand for all- electric vehicles, especially in the United States market, has been driven by government incentives through subsidies, lobbyists, and taxes. In particular, American sales of the
Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation was introduced in October 2017. The Lea ...
have depended on generous incentives and special treatment in the state of Georgia, the top selling Leaf market. According to international market research, 60% of respondents believe a battery driving range of less than is unacceptable even though only 2% drive more than that distance per day. Among popular current all-electric vehicles, only the Tesla (with the most expensive version of the
Model S The Tesla Model S is a battery-powered liftback car serving as the flagship model of Tesla, Inc. The Model S features a dual-motor, all-wheel drive layout, although earlier versions of the Model S featured a rear-motor and rear-wheel drive l ...
offering a range in the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
5-cycle test) significantly exceeds this threshold. The Nissan Leaf has an EPA rated range of for the larger 60 kWh 2022 model year. Plug-in hybrids provide the extended range and potential for refueling of conventional hybrids while enabling drivers to use battery electric power for at least a significant part of their typical daily driving. The average trip to or from work in the United States in 2009 was , while the average distance commuted to work in England and Wales in 2011 was slightly lower at . Since building a PHEV with a longer all-electric range adds weight and cost, and reduces cargo and/or passenger space, there is not a specific all-electric range that is optimal. The accompanying graph shows the observed all-electric range, in miles, for four popular U.S. market plug-in hybrids, as tested by ''
Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'' magazine. A key design parameter of the Chevrolet Volt was a target of for the all-electric range, selected to keep the battery size small and lower costs, and mainly because research showed that 78% of daily
commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regu ...
in the U.S. travel or less. This target range would allow most travel to be accomplished electrically driven and the assumption was made that charging will take place at home overnight. This requirement translated using a
lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...
pack with an energy storage capacity of 16 considering that the battery would be used until the
state of charge State of charge (SoC) is the level of charge of an electric battery relative to its capacity. The units of SoC are percentage points (0% = empty; 100% = full). An alternative form of the same measure is the depth of discharge (DoD), the inverse ...
(SOC) of the battery reached 30%. In October 2014 General Motors reported, based on data collected through its
OnStar OnStar Corporation is a subsidiary of General Motors that provides subscription-based communications, in-vehicle security, emergency services, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States, Canada, China, ...
telematics Telematics is an interdisciplinary field encompassing telecommunications, vehicular technologies (road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedia ...
system since Volt deliveries began, and with over 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) traveled, that Volt owners drive about 62.5% of their trips in
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
. In May 2016, Ford reported, based on data collected from more than 610 million miles (976 million km) logged by its electrified vehicles through its telematics system, that drivers of these vehicles run an average of annually on their vehicles, with about half of those miles operating in all-electric mode. A break down of these figures show an average daily commute of for Ford Energi plug-in hybrid drivers. Ford notes that with the enhanced electric range of the 2017 model year model, the average Fusion Energi commuter could go the entire day using no gasoline, if the car is fully charged both, before leaving for work and before leaving for home. According to Ford data, currently most customers are likely charging their vehicles only at home. The 2015 edition of the EPA's annual report "''Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends''" estimates the following utility factors for 2015
model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...
plug-in hybrids to represent the percentage of miles that will be driven using electricity by an average driver, whether in electric only or blended modes: 83% for the BMW i3 REx, 66% for the Chevrolet Volt, 45% for the Ford Energi models, 43% for the
McLaren P1 The McLaren P1 is a limited-production mid-engine plug-in hybrid sports car produced by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. Debuted at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, sales of the P1 began in the United Kingdom in October 2013 and all ...
, 37% for the
BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was rel ...
, and 29% for the
Toyota Prius PHV The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
. ''See Table 7.2 – MY 2015 Alternative Fuel Vehicle Powertrain and Range.'' A 2014 analysis conducted by the Idaho National Laboratory using a sample of 21,600 all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, found that Volt owners traveled on average 9,112 miles in all-electric mode (e-miles) per year, while Leaf owners traveled 9,697 e-miles per year, despite the Volt's shorter all-electric range, about half of the Leaf's. Between January and August 2014, a period during which US sales of conventional hybrids slowed, US sales of plug-in hybrids grew from 28,241 to 40,748 compared to the same period in 2013. US sales of all-electric vehicles also grew during the same period: from 29,917 vehicles in the January to August 2013 period to 40,349 in January to August 2014.


Comparison to non-plug-in hybrids


Fuel efficiency and petroleum displacement

Plug-in hybrids have the potential to be even more efficient than conventional hybrids because a more limited use of the PHEV's internal combustion engine may allow the engine to be used at closer to its maximum efficiency. While a
Toyota Prius The is a car built by Toyota which has a hybrid drivetrain, combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Initially offered as a four-door sedan, it has been produced only as a five-door liftback since 2003. In 2007, ...
is likely to convert fuel to motive energy on average at about 30% efficiency (well below the engine's 38% peak efficiency), the engine of a PHEV-70 would be likely to operate far more often near its peak efficiency because the batteries can serve the modest power needs at times when the combustion engine would be forced to run well below its peak efficiency. The actual efficiency achieved depends on losses from electricity generation, inversion, battery charging/discharging, the motor controller and motor itself, the way a vehicle is used (its duty cycle), and the opportunities to recharge by connecting to the electrical grid. Each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in use will displace up to of petroleum fuels per year (
gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
or
diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
). Also, electricity is multi-sourced and, as a result, it gives the greatest degree of energy resilience. The actual fuel economy for PHEVs depends on their powertrain's operating modes, the all-electric range, and the amount of driving between charges. If no gasoline is used the
miles per gallon gasoline equivalent Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGe or MPGge) is a measure of the average distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. MPGe is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compare energy consumption of alternative ...
(MPG-e) depends only on the efficiency of the electric system. The first mass production PHEV available in the U.S. market, the 2011
Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
, with an EPA rated all-electric range of and an additional gasoline-only extended range of , has an EPA combined city/highway fuel economy of 93 MPG-e in
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
, and in gasoline-only mode, for an overall combined gas-electric fuel economy rating of equivalent (MPG-e). The EPA also included in the Volt's fuel economy label a table showing fuel economy and electricity consumed for five different scenarios: 30, 45, 60 and driven between a full charge, and a never charge scenario. According to this table the fuel economy goes up to equivalent (MPG-e) with driven between full charges. For the more comprehensive
fuel economy and environment label The Monroney sticker or window sticker is a label required in the United States to be displayed in all new automobiles and includes the listing of certain official information about the car. The window sticker was named after Almer Stillwell "M ...
that will be mandatory in the U.S. beginning in
model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...
2013, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...
(NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two separate fuel economy labels for plug-in hybrids because of their design complexity, as PHEVS can operate in two or three operating modes: all-electric, blended, and gasoline-only.''EPA-420-F-11-017'' One label is for series hybrid or extended range electric vehicle (like the Chevy Volt), with all-electric and gasoline-only modes; and a second label for blended mode or
series-parallel hybrid Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power. Hybrids come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but sw ...
, that includes a combination of both gasoline and plug-in electric operation; and gasoline only, like a conventional hybrid vehicle. The
Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...
(SAE) developed their recommended practice in 1999 for testing and reporting the fuel economy of hybrid vehicles and included language to address PHEVs. An SAE committee is currently working to review procedures for testing and reporting the fuel economy of PHEVs. The Toronto Atmospheric Fund tested ten retrofitted plug-in hybrid vehicles that achieved an average of 5.8 litres per 100 kilometre or 40.6 miles per gallon over six months in 2008, which was considered below the technology's potential.Hamilton, Tyler
$3.83 to power hybrid plug-in for 6 days
. June 9, 2008
In real world testing using normal drivers, some Prius PHEV conversions may not achieve much better fuel economy than HEVs. For example, a plug-in Prius fleet, each with a all-electric range, averaged only in a test in Seattle, and similar results with the same kind of conversion battery models at
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
's
RechargeIT RechargeIT is one of five initiatives within Google.org, the charitable arm of Google, created with the aim to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use, and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. Histo ...
initiative. Moreover, the additional battery pack costs –.


Operating costs

A study published in 2014 by researchers from
Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the fall of 2021, t ...
,
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...
and
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...
compared the operating costs of PHEVs of various electric ranges (10, 20, 30, and 40 miles) with conventional gasoline vehicles and non-plugin hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) for different payback periods, considering different charging infrastructure deployment levels and gasoline prices. The study concluded that: * PHEVs save around 60% or 40% in energy costs, compared with conventional gasoline vehicles and HEVs, respectively. However, for drivers with significant daily vehicle miles traveled (DVMT), hybrid vehicles may be even a better choice than plug-in hybrids with a range of , particularly when there is a lack of public charging infrastructure. *The incremental battery cost of large-battery plug-in hybrids is difficult to justify based on the incremental savings of PHEVs' operating costs unless a subsidy is offered for large-battery PHEVs. *When the price of gasoline increases from per gallon to per gallon, the number of drivers who benefit from a larger battery increases significantly. If the gas price is , a plug-in hybrid with a range of is the least costly option even if the battery cost is $200/kWh. *Although quick chargers can reduce charging time, they contribute little to energy cost savings for PHEVs, as opposed to Level-2 chargers.


Cost of batteries

Disadvantages of PHEVs include the additional cost, weight and size of a larger
battery pack A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density. The term battery ...
. According to a 2010 study by the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...
, the cost of a
lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...
battery pack is about /
kW·h A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bi ...
of usable energy, and considering that a PHEV-10 requires about 2.0 kW·h and a PHEV-40 about 8 kW·h, the estimated manufacturer cost of the battery pack for a PHEV-10 is around and it goes up to for a PHEV-40. According to the same study, even though costs are expected to decline by 35% by 2020, market penetration is expected to be slow and therefore PHEVs are not expected to significantly impact oil consumption or carbon emissions before 2030, unless a fundamental breakthrough in battery technologies occurs. According to the 2010 NRC study, although a mile driven on electricity is cheaper than one driven on gasoline, lifetime fuel savings are not enough to offset plug-ins' high upfront costs, and it will take decades before the break-even point is achieved. Furthermore, hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies and incentives are likely to be required to achieve rapid plug-in market penetration in the U.S. A 2013 study by the
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. Founded in 1980, ACEEE's mission is to act as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behav ...
reported that battery costs came down from per kilowatt hour in 2007 to per kilowatt hour in 2012. The U.S. Department of Energy has set cost targets for its sponsored battery research of per kilowatt hour in 2015 and per kilowatt hour by 2022. Cost reductions through advances in battery technology and higher production volumes will allow plug-in electric vehicles to be more competitive with conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. A study published in 2011 by the
Belfer Center The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, found that the gasoline costs savings of PHEVs over the vehicles' lifetimes do not offset their higher purchase prices. This finding was estimated comparing their lifetime
net present value The net present value (NPV) or net present worth (NPW) applies to a series of cash flows occurring at different times. The present value of a cash flow depends on the interval of time between now and the cash flow. It also depends on the discount ...
at 2010 purchase and operating costs for the U.S. market, and assuming no government subidies. Discussion Paper #2011-08. According to the study estimates, a PHEV-40 is more expensive than a conventional internal combustion engine, while a
battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, ...
(BEV) is more expensive. The study also examined how this balance will change over the next 10 to 20 years, assuming that battery costs will decrease while gasoline prices increase. Under the future scenarios considered, the study found that BEVs will be significantly less expensive than conventional cars ( to cheaper), while PHEVs, will be more expensive than BEVs in almost all comparison scenarios, and only less expensive than conventional cars in a scenario with very low battery costs and high gasoline prices. BEVs are simpler to build and do not use liquid fuel, while PHEVs have more complicated powertrains and still have gasoline-powered engines.


Emissions shifted to electric plants

Increased
pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
is expected to occur in some areas with the adoption of PHEVs, but most areas will experience a decrease.Knipping, E. and Duvall, M. (June 2007
"Environmental Assessment of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles Volume 2: United States Air Quality Analysis Based on AEO-2006 Assumptions for 2030"
''
Electric Power Research Institute EPRI, is an American independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research and development related to the generation, delivery, and use of electricity to help address challenges in the energy industry, including reliability, efficiency, affo ...
and
Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
''. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
A study by the ACEEE predicts that widespread PHEV use in heavily coal-dependent areas would result in an increase in local net sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions, given emissions levels from most coal plants currently supplying power to the grid. Although clean coal technologies could create power plants which supply grid power from coal without emitting significant amounts of such pollutants, the higher cost of the application of these technologies may increase the price of coal-generated electricity. The net effect on pollution is dependent on the fuel source of the electrical grid (fossil or renewable, for example) and the pollution profile of the power plants themselves. Identifying, regulating and upgrading single point pollution source such as a power plant—or replacing a plant altogether—may also be more practical. From a human health perspective, shifting pollution away from large urban areas may be considered a significant advantage. According to a 2009 study by The National Academy of Science, "Electric vehicles and grid-dependent (plug-in) hybrid vehicles showed somewhat higher nonclimate damages than many other technologies." Efficiency of plug-in hybrids is also impacted by the overall efficiency of electric power transmission. Transmission and distribution losses in the USA were estimated at 7.2% in 1995 and 6.5% in 2007. By life cycle analysis of air pollution emissions, natural gas vehicles are currently the lowest emitter.


Tiered rate structure for electric bills

The additional electrical consumption to recharge the plug-in vehicles could push many households in areas that do not have off-peak tariffs into the higher priced tier and negate financial benefits. Customers under such tariffs could see significant savings by being careful about when the vehicle was charged, for example, by using a timer to restrict charging to off-peak hours. Thus, an accurate comparison of the benefit requires each household to evaluate its current electrical usage tier and tariffs weighed against the cost of gasoline and the actual observed operational cost of electric mode vehicle operation.


Greenhouse gas emissions

The effect of PHEVs on greenhouse emissions is complex. Plug-in hybrid vehicles operating on
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
do not emit harmful tailpipe pollutants from the onboard source of power. The clean air benefit is usually local because depending on the source of the electricity used to recharge the batteries, air pollutant emissions are shifted to the location of the generation plants. In the same way, PHEVs do not emit
greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
from the onboard source of power, but from the point of view of a well-to-wheel assessment, the extent of the benefit also depends on the fuel and technology used for
electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its s ...
. From the perspective of a full
life cycle analysis Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case ...
, the electricity used to recharge the batteries must be generated from zero-emission sources such as renewable (e.g.
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...
, solar energy or
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
) or
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
for PEVs to have almost none or zero well-to-wheel emissions. pages=2–5 On the other hand, when PEVs are recharged from
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
-fired plants, they usually produce slightly more greenhouse gas emissions than
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
vehicles. In the case of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle when operating in hybrid mode with assistance of the internal combustion engine, tailpipe and greenhouse emissions are lower in comparison to conventional cars because of their higher fuel economy.


Life cycle energy and emissions assessments


Argonne

In 2009, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory adapted their GREET model to conduct a full well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for several scenarios, considering different on-board fuels and different sources of electricity generation for recharging the vehicle batteries. Three US regions were selected for the analysis,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, New York, and
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, as these regions include major metropolitan areas with significant variations in their energy generation mixes. The full cycle analysis results were also reported for the US generation mix and renewable electricity to examine cases of average and clean mixes, respectively Report ANL/ESD/09-2 This 2009 study showed a wide spread of petroleum use and GHG emissions among the different fuel production technologies and grid generation mixes. The following table summarizes the main results: The Argonne study found that PHEVs offered reductions in petroleum energy use as compared with regular hybrid electric vehicles. More petroleum energy savings and also more GHG emissions reductions were realized as the all-electric range increased, except when electricity used to recharge was dominated by coal or oil-fired power generation. As expected, electricity from renewable sources realized the largest reductions in petroleum energy use and GHG emissions for all PHEVs as the all-electric range increased. The study also concluded that plug-in vehicles that employ biomass-based fuels (biomass-E85 and -hydrogen) may not realize GHG emissions benefits over regular hybrids if power generation is dominated by fossil sources.


Oak Ridge

A 2008 study by researchers at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...
analyzed oil use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in hybrids relative to hybrid electric vehicles under several scenarios for years 2020 and 2030. Report ORNL/TM-2007/150 The study considered the mix of power sources for 13 U.S. regions that would be used during recharging of vehicles, generally a combination of coal, natural gas and nuclear energy, and to a lesser extent renewable energy. A 2010 study conducted at Argonne National Laboratory reached similar findings, concluding that PHEVs will reduce oil consumption but could produce very different greenhouse gas emissions for each region depending on the energy mix used to generate the electricity to recharge the plug-in hybrids.


Environmental Protection Agency

In October 2014, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
published the 2014 edition of its annual report ''Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends''. For the first time, the report presents an analysis of the impact of
alternative fuel vehicle An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on alternative fuel rather than traditional petroleum fuels (petrol or petrodiesel). The term also refers to any technology (e.g. electric car, hybrid electric vehicles, solar-powered ...
s, with emphasis in
plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
s because as their market share is approaching 1%, PEVs began to have a measurable impact on the U.S. overall new vehicle fuel economy and emissions. ''See table 7.3 - Overall fuel economy (mpg-e), pp. 100.'' EPA's report included the analysis of 12 all-electric passengers cars and 10 plug-in hybrids available in the market as
model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...
2014. For purposes of an accurate estimation of emissions, the analysis took into consideration the differences in operation between those PHEVs like the Chevrolet Volt that can operate in
all-electric mode Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on the energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode. Most plug-in hybrids operate in charge-depleting mode at startup, and ...
without using gasoline, and those that operate in a blended mode like the
Toyota Prius PHV The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
, which uses both energy stored in the battery and energy from the gasoline tank to propel the vehicle, but that can deliver substantial all-electric driving in blended mode. In addition, since the all-electric range of plug-in hybrids depends on the size of the battery pack, the analysis introduced a utility factor as a projection, on average, of the percentage of miles that will be driven using electricity (in electric only and blended modes) by an average driver. The following table shows the overall EV/hybrid fuel economy expressed in terms of
miles per gallon gasoline equivalent Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGe or MPGge) is a measure of the average distance traveled per unit of energy consumed. MPGe is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to compare energy consumption of alternative ...
(mpg-e) and the utility factor for the ten MY2014 plug-in hybrids available in the U.S. market. The study used the utility factor (since in pure EV mode there are no tailpipe emissions) and the EPA best estimate of the tailpipe emissions produced by these vehicles in real world city and highway operation based on the EPA 5-cycle label methodology, using a weighted 55% city/45% highway driving. The results are shown in the following table. In addition, the EPA accounted for the upstream emissions associated with the production and distribution of electricity required to charge the PHEVs. Since electricity production in the United States varies significantly from region to region, the EPA considered three scenarios/ranges with the low end of the range corresponding to the California powerplant emissions factor, the middle of the range represented by the national average powerplant emissions factor, and the upper end of the range corresponding to the powerplant emissions factor for the Rockies. The EPA estimates that the electricity GHG emission factors for various regions of the country vary from 346 g /kW-hr in California to 986 g /kW-hr in the Rockies, with a national average of 648 g /kW-hr. The following table shows the tailpipe emissions and the combined tailpipe and upstream emissions for each of the 10 MY 2014 PHEVs available in the U.S. market.


National Bureau of Economic Research

Most emission analysis use average emissions rates across regions instead of marginal generation at different times of the day. The former approach does not take into account the generation mix within interconnected electricity markets and shifting load profiles throughout the day. Published on line 2014-03-24. See pp. 251 An analysis by three economist affiliated with the
National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
(NBER), published in November 2014, developed a methodology to estimate marginal emissions of electricity demand that vary by location and time of day across the United States. The study used emissions and consumption data for 2007 through 2009, and used the specifications for the Chevrolet Volt (all-electric range of ). The analysis found that marginal emission rates are more than three times as large in the
Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
compared to the
Western U.S. The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
, and within regions, rates for some hours of the day are more than twice those for others. Applying the results of the marginal analysis to plug-in electric vehicles, the NBER researchers found that the emissions of charging PEVs vary by region and hours of the day. In some regions, such as the Western U.S. and Texas, emissions per mile from driving PEVs are less than those from driving a hybrid car. However, in other regions, such as the Upper Midwest, charging during the recommended hours of midnight to 4 a.m. implies that PEVs generate more emissions per mile than the average car currently on the road. The results show a fundamental tension between electricity load management and environmental goals as the hours when electricity is the least expensive to produce tend to be the hours with the greatest emissions. This occurs because coal-fired units, which have higher emission rates, are most commonly used to meet base-level and off-peak electricity demand; while natural gas units, which have relatively low emissions rates, are often brought online to meet peak demand. This pattern of fuel shifting explains why emission rates tend to be higher at night and lower during periods of peak demand in the morning and evening.


Production and sales


Production models

Since 2008, plug-in hybrids have been commercially available from both specialty manufacturers and from mainstream producers of internal combustion engine vehicles. The F3DM, released in China in December 2008, was the first production plug-in hybrid sold in the world. The
Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
, launched in the U.S. in December 2010, was the first
mass-production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and bat ...
plug-in hybrid by a major carmaker.


Sales and main markets

There were 1.2 million plug-in hybrid cars on the world roads at the end of 2017. The stock of plug-in hybrids increased to 1.8 million in 2018, out of a global stock of about 5.1 million plug-in electric passenger cars. , the United States ranked as the world's largest plug-in hybrid car market with a stock of 360,510 units, followed by China with 276,580 vehicles, Japan with 100,860 units, the Netherlands with 98,220, and the UK with 88,660. ''See pp. 9–10, 19–23, 29–28, and Statistical annex, pp. 107–113''. Global sales of plug-in hybrids grew from over 300 units in 2010 to almost 9,000 in 2011, jumped to over 60,000 in 2012, and reached almost 222,000 in 2015. ''See pp. 4–5, and 24–25 and Statistical annex, pp. 34–37''. , the United States was the world's largest plug-in hybrid car market with a stock of 193,770 units. About 279,000 light-duty plug-in hybrids were sold in 2016, ''Global light-duty plug-in vehicles sales totaled almost 775,000 units in 2016, of which, 36% were plug-in hybrids.'' raising the global stock to almost 800,000 highway legal plug-in hybrid electric cars at the end of 2016. ''An estimated 2,032,000 highway-legal plug-in passenger cars and vans have been sold worldwide at the end of 2016. The top selling markets are China (645,708 new energy cars, including imports), Europe (638,000 plug-in cars and vans), and the United States (570,187 plug-in cars). The top European country markets are Norway (135,276), the Netherlands (113,636), France (108,065), and the UK (91,000). Total Chinese sales of domestically produced new energy vehicles, including buses and truck, totaled 951,447 vehicles. China was the top selling plug-in car market in 2016, and also has the world's largest stock of plug-in electric cars.'' A total of 398,210 plug-in hybrid cars were sold in 2017, with China as the top selling country with 111,000 units, and the global stock of plug-in hybrids passed the one million unit milestone by the end of 2017. Global sales of
plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
s have been shifting for several years towards fully electric battery cars. The global ratio between all-electrics (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, to 66:34 in 2017, and rose to 69:31 in 2018.


By country

The Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the United States have the largest shares of plug-in hybrid sales as percentage of total plug-in electric passenger vehicle sales. The Netherlands has the world's largest share of plug-in hybrids among its plug-in electric passenger car stock, with 86,162 plug-in hybrids registered at the end of October 2016, out of 99,945 plug-in electric cars and vans, representing 86.2% of the country's stock of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles. Sweden ranks next with 16,978 plug-in hybrid cars sold between 2011 and August 2016, representing 71.7% of total plug-in electric passenger car sales registrations. Download file "Nyregistreringar December 2013 prel.pdf" see table "NYREGISTRERADE SUPERMILJÖBILAR DECEMBER 2013" with summary of PEV sales by model for 2013 and 2012. ''Download file "Nyregistreringar december 2014 (prel)" see tables: "Nyregistrerade supermiljöbilar december 2014" with summary of plug-in passenger car registrations by model for 2013 (revised) and 2014, and table "Nyregistrerade eldrivna lätta lastbilar (högst 3,5 ton) per modell:" for plug-in utility vans registrations for the same two years. A total of 303,866 new passenger vehicles were registered in 2014, and a total of 4,656 super clean cars, resulting in a PEV market share of 1.53% of new car sales.'' ''Download the pdf file "Nyregistreringar december 2015 def" (PressRel1512_def.pdf) See table: Nyregistrerade miljöpersonbilar december 2015.'' ''Download the pdf file "Nyregistreringar augusti 2016 (II)" (PressRel1608II.pddf) See table: "Nyregistrerade miljöbilar per typ augusti 2016." A total of 6,129 plug-in hybrids and 1,627 all-electric cars were registered during the first eight months of 2016.'' Plug-in hybrid registrations in the UK between up to August 2016 totaled 45,130 units representing 61.6% of total plug-in car registrations since 2011. ''A total of 992 plug-in hybrids were registered during 2012 and 1,072 in 2013''. In the United States, plug-in hybrids represent 47.2% of the 506,450 plug-in electric cars sold between 2008 and August 2016. ''See details in captions and graphs.'' In November 2013 the Netherlands became the first country where a plug-in hybrid topped the monthly ranking of new car sales. During November sales were led by the
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
with 2,736 units, capturing a market share of 6.8% of new passenger cars sold that month. Again in December 2013 the Outlander P-HEV ranked as the top selling new car in the country with 4,976 units, representing a 12.6% market share of new car sales. These record sales allowed the Netherlands to become the second country, after Norway, where plug-in electric cars have topped the monthly ranking of new car sales. , the Netherlands was the country with highest plug-in hybrid market concentration, with 1.45 vehicles registered per 1,000 people. ''Around 1,800 Tesla Roadsters and 1,600 Fisker Karmas had been sold in the U.S. by the end of 2013.'' The following table presents the top ranking countries according to its plug-in hybrid segment market share of total new car sales in 2013:


By model

According to
JATO Dynamics JATO Dynamics Ltd is a global supplier of automotive business intelligence, headquartered in Uxbridge, London Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated ...
, since December 2018 the
Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV The is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors. It was originally known as the when it was introduced in Japan in 2001. The original Airtrek name was chosen to "describe the vehicle's ability to transpo ...
is the world's all-time best selling plug-in hybrid. Since inception, 290,000 units have been sold worldwide through September 2021. Europe is the Outlander P-HEV leading market with 126,617 units sold through January 2019, followed by Japan 42,451 units through March 2018. European sales are led by the UK with 50,000 units by April 2020, followed by the Netherlands with 25,489 units, and Norway with 14,196, both through March 2018. ''See tables in pp. 3-4.'' Combined global sales of the Chevrolet Volt and its variants totaled about 186,000 units by the end of 2018, including about 10,000 Opel/Vauxhall Amperas sold in Europe through June 2016, ''Global cumulative sales of plug-in electric vehicles totaled about 1.9 million units through November 2016. The Nissan Leaf is the world's leading plug-in car with more than 240,000 units delivered. , the Tesla Model S ranks next with over 151,000, followed by the Vollt/Ampera family of vehicles with 130,500 vehicles sold including over 10,000 Opel/Vauxhall Amperas sold in Europe, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with about 116,500 units, and the Toyota Prius PHV with about 76,200.'' and over 4,300
Buick Velite 5 Buick () is a division (business), division of the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American Brand, marques of automobiles, and w ...
s sold only in China (rebadged second generation Volt) through December 2018. Volt sales are led by the United States with 152,144 units delivered through December 2018, followed by Canada with 17,311 units through November 2018. Until September 2018, the
Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...
was the world's top selling plug-in hybrid. Ranking third is the
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (often abbreviated as the Prius and known as the Prius Prime in North America, South Korea, and New Zealand) is a plug-in hybrid liftback manufactured by Toyota. The first-generation model was produced from 2012 t ...
( Toyota Prius Prime) with about 174,600 units sold worldwide of both generations through December 2018. The United States is the leading market with over 93,000 units delivered through December 2018. Japan ranks next with about 61,200 units through December 2018, ''A total of 52,013 plug-in cars were sold in Japan in 2018, with a market share of 1.0%. The Nissan Leaf was the top selling plug-in model with 25,722 units, followed by the Prius PHEV with 12,401 units.'' followed by Europe with almost 14,800 units through June 2018. ''Toyota sold 1,693 Prius PHEV during the first half of 2018.'' The following table presents plug-in hybrid models with cumulative global sales of around or more than 100,000 units since the introduction of the first modern production plug-in hybrid car, the
BYD F3DM The BYD F3DM (Dual-mode) was a plug-in hybrid compact sedan manufactured by BYD with an all-electric range of and a hybrid electric powertrain that can extend the range an additional . The F3DM is the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybri ...
, in 2008 up until December 2020:


Government support and public deployment


Subsidies and economic incentives

Several countries have established grants and tax credits for the purchase of new
plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...
s (PEVs) including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and usually the economic incentive depends on battery size. The U.S. offers a federal income tax credit up to , and several states have additional incentives. The UK offers a Plug-in Car Grant up to a maximum of (). As of April 2011, 15 of the 27 European Union member states provide tax incentives for electrically chargeable vehicles, which includes all
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an countries plus the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
. Also 17 countries levy
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
related taxes on passenger cars as a disincentive. The incentives consist of tax reductions and exemptions, as well as of bonus payments for buyers of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and some
alternative fuel vehicle An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on alternative fuel rather than traditional petroleum fuels (petrol or petrodiesel). The term also refers to any technology (e.g. electric car, hybrid electric vehicles, solar-powered ...
s.


Other government support

;United States Incentives for the development of PHEVs are included in the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007Pub.L. 110-140, originally named the Clean Energy Act of 2007, is an Act of Congress concerning the energy policy of the United States. As part of the Democratic Party's 100-Hour Plan during th ...
. The
Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 Public Law 110-343 () is a US Act of Congress signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, which was designed to mitigate the growing financial crisis of the late-2000s by giving relief to so-called "Troubled Assets." Three divisions ...
, signed into law on October 3, 2008, grants a tax credits for the purchase of PHEVs. President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's New Energy for America calls for deployment of 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015, and on March 19, 2009, he announced programs directing $2.4 billion to electric vehicle development. The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...
modifies the tax credits, including a new one for plug-in electric drive conversion kits and for 2 or 3 wheel vehicles. The ultimate total included in the Act that is going to PHEVs is over $6 billion. In March 2009, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the
US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
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 the President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015. Public deployments also include: *
USDOE The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
's
FreedomCAR The FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (FCVT) was a national Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program developing more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly highway transportation technologies to enable the United States ...
.
US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
announced it would dole out $30 million in funding to three companies over three years to further the development of plug-in hybrids *
USDOE The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
announced the selection of Navistar Corporation for a cost-shared award of up to $10 million to develop, test, and deploy plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) school buses. * DOE and Sweden have a MOU to advance market integration of plug-in hybrid vehicles *
PHEV Research Center The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
*
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
Mayor
Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...
, San Jose Mayor
Chuck Reed Charles Rufus Reed (born August 15, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th Mayor of San Jose, California from 2007 to 2014. Biography Early life Reed was born in Garden City, Kansas. Reed attended Garden City High ...
and
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
Mayor Ron Dellums announced a nine-step policy plan for transforming the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the U.S." and of the world There are partnerships with Coulomb, Better Place and others are also advancing. The first charging stations went up in San Jose (more information in Plug-in hybrids in California). *
Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
PHEV Pilot Project * Texas Governor Rick Perry's proposal for a state $5,000 tax credit for PHEVs in "non-attainment" communities *
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, that includes City's public fleet converted vehicles, the Port of Seattle, King County and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency ;European Union
Electrification of transport An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...
( electromobility) is a priority in the European Union Research Programme. It also figures prominently in the European Economic Recovery Plan presented November 2008, in the frame of the Green Car Initiative. DG TREN will support 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.


Supportive organizations

Organizations that support plug-in hybrids include the
World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
, National Wildlife Federation, and
CalCars CalCars (also known as The California Cars Initiative) was a charitable, non-profit organization founded in 2002 to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) as a key to addressing oil dependence and global warming both nationally and int ...
. Other supportive organizations are
Plug In America Plug In America (PIA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that promotes and advocates the use of plug-in cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) powered by domestic and renewable electricity which it claims will help reduce ...
, the Alliance for Climate Protection, Friends of the Earth, the
Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gr ...
,
Rocky Mountain Institute RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) is an organization in the United States co-founded by Amory Lovins dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the field of sustainability, with a focus on profitable innovations for energy an ...
(Project Get Ready), the San Francisco
Bay Area Council The Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco, founded in 1945, and dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. At its inception in the post WWII years, members included Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the ...
, the Apollo Alliance, the Set America Free Coalition, the
Silicon Valley Leadership Group The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (abbreviated SVLG) is a non-profit advocacy group in Silicon Valley, California, in the United States. Its members are businesses that operate in the valley and its purpose is to influence public policy rel ...
, and the Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Bus Project. FPL and Duke Energy has said that by 2020 all new purchases of fleet vehicles will be plug-in hybrid or all-electric.


See also

*
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program is a $25 billion direct loan program funded by Congress in fall 2008 to provide debt capital to the U.S. automotive industry for the purpose of funding projects that help vehicles ...
*
Electric transportation technology An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes ch ...
*
Electric TM4 Dana TM4, previously known as TM4 Inc., is a joint-venture between Dana Incorporated, Dana Corporation and government-owned public utility Hydro-Québec. Established in 1998, it is active in the development of electric vehicle motors and related ...
* Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors * Genset trailer *
Glossary of automotive design A glossary of terms relating to automotive design. Some terms may be found at car classification. 0–9 ; One-box form: A categorization based on overall form design using rough rectangle volumes. In the case of the one-box, also called a mon ...
*
Government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles Government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles have been established around the world to support policy-driven adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. These incentives mainly take the form of purchase rebates, tax exemptions and tax credits, ...
* Green vehicle * History of the electric vehicle * Hymotion * Hypercar (concept car), Hypercar * Inductive charging * Patent encumbrance of large automotive NiMH batteries * Phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles *
Plug In America Plug In America (PIA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that promotes and advocates the use of plug-in cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) powered by domestic and renewable electricity which it claims will help reduce ...
* Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) * Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center * Range anxiety * List of hybrid vehicles, List of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles


References


Further reading

*
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. Founded in 1980, ACEEE's mission is to act as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behav ...

Plug-in Electric Vehicles: Challenges and Opportunities
June 2013 * Argonne National Laboratory
Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Analysis of U.S. Light-Duty Vehicle-Fuel Pathways: A Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment of Current (2015) and Future (2025–2030) Technologies
(includes estimated cost of avoided GHG emissions from BEVs and PHEVs), June 2016. * *International Council on Clean Transportation
Driving Electrification – A Global Comparison of Fiscal Incentive Policy for Electric Vehicles
May 2014 * International Energy Agency (IEA) and Electric Vehicles Initiative (April 2013)
Global EV Outlook 2013 – Understanding the Electric Vehicle Landscape to 2020
* International Energy Agency (IEA) – IA-HEV (May 2013)
Hybrid and Electric Vehicles – The Electric Drive Gains Traction
* Lee, Henry, and Grant Lovellette (2011
Will Electric Cars Transform the U.S. Vehicle Market?
Belfer Center The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...
, Harvard University * * * * Joseph J. Romm, Romm, Joseph J. and Fox-Penne, Peter. (2007)
Plugging into the Grid: How Plug-In Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Can Help Break America's Oil Addiction and Slow Global Warming
Progressive Policy Institute. *
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...

Application of Life-Cycle Assessment to Nanoscale Technology: Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles
April 2013. * US Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy *
Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Value Proposition Study
Final Report, July 2010. *

*

including list of books and publications. * US
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...

Interim Guidance Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles Equipped with High Voltage Batteries – Vehicle Owner/General Public

Interim Guidance Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles Equipped with High Voltage Batteries – Law Enforcement/Emergency Medical Services/Fire Department


External links


Plug In America
– Non-profit advocacy group.
eGallon Calculator: Compare the costs of driving with electricity
U.S. Department of Energy. {{DEFAULTSORT:Plug-In Hybrid Plug-in hybrid vehicles, Automotive technologies Electric vehicle conversion Electric vehicles