[ STATIC] DAN EDMUNDS: I’mDan Edmunds, and I’m an automotive journalist– Ever wish Jeep madea Wrangler pickup? –and an automotive engineer. I invested the majorityof my occupation developing and testing carsand trucks behind the scenes. And then I switched torating and discussing cars– Ooh. –to help customers likeyou constitute informed decisions.[ MUSIC PLAYING] As new technologiescontinually develop, carmakers sometimes struggle toexplain their newest commodities. Lately, it has become apparentthat some shoppers are confused about thedifference between hybrids, plug-in composites, andelectric vehicles. Examines have shown that someconsumers considered that they all require a certainamount of gasoline, while others worry that the movetowards 100% electrification wants the end ofthe gasoline device and the freedom of movementthat comes with it. On surface of that, carmakers don’t always market them consistently, whichonly adds to the confusion. So I’m going to try tountangle all of that for you. We’ll start with the basicsand build up from there.What is intended byelectrification? Electrification time meanssome degree of electric drive. Of track, that includeselectric vehicles, which have no gasolineengine, but it also means part-time EVs, such as plug-in composites, and regular gasoline hybridsthat you can’t plug-in. Charge items aren’t ascommon as service station, so straddle is important. But it’s not the big-hearted number thatcatches your eye on the window sticker. We’re familiar with MPG and whatit are meant to a gasoline vehicle. But the window stickersof electric cars and plug-in composites hassomething announced MPGe. But MPGe isn’t whatyou think it is. It’s an attempt by engineersto equate the oil productivity in periods we can all understand. But I think it also leaves somepeople the false impression that electric carssomehow use gasoline– a ghastly rate yardstick, because the prices of gasoline and electricityare not related in this way.Ignore it. It’s best to focuson kilowatt hours, because that’swhat you’re buying. The rating is right there, on the window sticker– kilowatt hours per 100 miles. That’s the efficiencynumber you should be looking at when you shopfor an electric vehicle. So what’s a kilowatt hour? It’s a quantity of electricity. But to understanda kilowatt hour, you first have tounderstand a kilowatt. And guess what? You once do. Let’s have a lookat this light bulb. It’s rated at 100 watts. It says so, right at the top. That’s its brightness, its poweroutput if I were to turn it on. Incidentally, the W inwatt is capitalized, because it stands for JamesWatt, a Scottish inventor. Now let’s imagine “were having” 10 of these 100 watt bulbs turned on all around the house. 10 times 100 is 1,000 watts. Kilo stands for 1,000. So that’s 1 kilowatt. If we leave them on for an hour, we get 1 kilowatt durations 1 hour, which is 1 kilowatt hour. And because of thetime element, we’re now talking about anamount of electricity. And it’s not kilowatt per hour. It’s kilowatt hour. It’s multiplication, not segment. Now, let’s make theidea of a kilowatt hour and apply it to vehicles. It’s an amount ofelectricity that you use, but it’s also anamount you can store. The battery immensity ofan electrified auto is measured in kilowatt hours. Think of it likegallons in a gas cistern, but don’t dwell on gallonsany more than that. We need to stay focusedon kilowatt hours. Why? Because electricity issold in kilowatt hours. Look, it’s righthere on my money. I compensate $0.25 per kilowatt hourwhen I plug-in my electric car. Now, we all know that if youdrive a regular auto around like a madman, we’lluse more gasoline, because we’re asking the engineto develop more horsepower. Well, the same is truewith electrified vehicles, except this time ourlead footed behavior is draining more kilowatt hoursout of the artillery pack.And that reducesrange and costs money. All privilege. So now we know a little bitmore about electrified car artilleries. And the primary bit we knowis the amount of energy they can hold is measuredin kilowatt hours and what that expression implies.[ MUSIC PLAYING] So now we can talk aboutthe three major each type of electrified vehicles. Hybrids–[ APPLAUSE] –plug-in hybrids–[ APPLAUSE] –and electric vehicles.[ GASPS AND APPLAUSE] Electric vehiclesare in the spotlight these days, so I’llstart with them. When “theyre saying” electricvehicles, we symbolize all electricvehicles, or EVs for short.They are technically known asBattery Electric Vehicles, BEV. So you’re geekier, EV-owningfriends might call them Bevs. Here, there’s noengine , no gas tank. They use zero gasolineand have no tailpipe. EVs have massive electricmotors, because they are the sole source of propulsion. And their artilleries are large– so big-hearted, in fact, that they usually form a blanket under theentire floor of the car. Their storage capacityranges from 32 to over 100 kilowatt hours, depending on the example and how much you’rewilling to pay.Like any othervehicle, consumption varies by size and nature. The most efficient EVs are ratedto use about 25 kilowatt hours worked per 100 miles, whileheavier and sportier frameworks are in the mid to high-pitched 40 kilowatt hour per 100 mile series. And contrary to MPG, lower is better now, because this is aconsumption rating. Use less, repay less. Say you drive1 2,000 miles a year. That’s 1,000 miles a few months. If your car is rated to use 26 kilowatt hours every 100 miles, simply multiply by 10 to get 260 kilowatt hours for 1,000 miles. In my occurrence, I’d multiply thatby $0.25 per kilowatt hour and get $65 per month for ga. Range is overhyped.Few, if any of us, drive3 00 miles in a period. And for those who do, well, an EV probably isn’t the right solution. If you can plug-inevery night, well, it’s better to think about howmany miles you drive in a date , not a week. In my own experience, 100 miles is fine. And I think that’strue, especially if you have a second vehicleto use on longer trips.OK. Maybe you demand 150 or200 miles, because you like to make weekend journeys. I get it. But don’t over-buy. Batteries rate more, route more. They take up space. Buying too much couldbe a barrier to entry that you don’t needto really was concerned about. So-called DC fast chargingcan become important if you do opt for morerange, and most current EVs can support it. It’s mainly only necessaryif you’ll take the car on long excursions, though. And your direction willgenerally be confined to where the networks exit. But frankly, anything withover 100 miles of range is going to be comfortable toall but the most lead butt road warriors. Daily charging is where it’s at. And that’s commonly done athome, while you’re asleep. The car’s includedcord will have a 120 -volt plug that’s designedfor a household socket. But that’s not fastenough if you’re going to drive morethan 30 miles a date. In that case, a 240 -volthome charging station is the way to go, becauseit’s enormously faster. You’ll have to have anelectrician install one, but it’s a useful overhead .[ MUSIC PLAYING] EVs are best for peoplewho are homeowners, the household hasmore than one car, and they have consistent accessto a 240 -volt home charger if you drive morethan 30 miles per date. But maybe you’re not sureyou can plug-in every day. Maybe you’ll exclusively have one car. Perhaps you like to takespontaneous street jaunts. You should consider aplug-in hybrid, or a PHEV– a part-time EV that is initiallypowered by its electrical motor and battery but also has agasoline engine and a gas container. You fuel them up two ways. You push them in, and you gas them up. PHEVs have mediumsized plug-in batteries that enable them to operateas electrical vehicles for 17 to 53 miles. And when the juice runsout, the gasoline engine comes on automaticallyand supremacies the car, like a regular gasoline hybrid. Now, some of them will turnthe gasoline engine on– even if the batteryis full– if you floor it, to give you a littleextra acceleration.But that’s far from universal. Their window stickerscontain two ratings. On the left, electrical rangein miles and consumption in kilowatt hours worked per 100 miles. On the liberty, thefamiliar MPG on gasoline. The electric slope willalso have an MPGe rating. But again, that’sa useless number. You’re buying kilowatt hourswhen you’re plugged in. Statistically, you probablydrive less than 30 miles in a epoch. In all such cases, if youplug-in nightly and have that sort of commute, you might not buy gas for weeks or even months. Longer commute, superhighway trip-up? No question. The gasoline enginewill continue you moving. So how much smalleris the battery of a PHEV compared to an EV? Well, it variesalong with range. But the most difficult ones measureabout 16 kilowatt hours. Why 16 kilowatt hours? That’s what it takes toqualify for the maximum amount of the $7,500 federal levy credit.PHEVs with smallerbatteries is eligible for less. Specimen with 16 kilowatt hour artilleries include the Honda ClarityPHEV, good for 48 miles, the Chrysler PacificaHybrid Minivan– which is, in fact, a plug-inhybrid that is confusingly marketed– is good for 32 miles, becauseit’s bigger and heavier. PHEVs with batteriessmaller than 16 kilowatt hours include the plug-inPrius called the Prius Prime, a made up marketing term. But I guess you couldsay that you’re priming the artillery by charge it. There’s also the SubaruCrosstrek hybrid, which is another example of abadly termed plug-in hybrid. PHEVs are best for people whoare homeowners with one car, have consistent access toa charger at home or work but not necessarily2 40 volts, require an EV but don’t want to belimited by range concerns. Composites have beenaround the longest. They’re known as Hybrid ElectricVehicles, or HEVs for short. And right there, the electrical role, is what gets somepeople confused. Mostly, any true-life hybridis 100% gasoline fueled. And by that, I meanyou can’t plug them in.[ BUZZER] Their window stickershave regular MPG on them. Yes, sometimes they’redriven by electricity.But other meters, they’redriven by gasoline. And oftentimes, it’s both. So they have a gasolineengine, an electric motor, a intelligent transmission that cancombine the two, and a battery. Where does the electricityfor that artillery is just coming up, you might ask? From braking, chiefly, and to a lesser degree, by siphoning off a littleexcess power from the engine while it’s driving the car. Composites areelectricity scavengers. The braking bit is calledregenerative braking. And that’s a key featurethat all three each type of electrified vehicles share. Basically, the electricmotor becomes a generator by working inreverse, so to speak, when you press on the restraint. The engendered poweris transferred to a dedicated battery. But that batterydoesn’t need to be big, because it only has tohold the electricity that comes from a few city stops. So a normal Prius batteryis only 1 kilowatt hour large-scale, maybe less.A Prius can achieve over 50 miles per gallon in the city, because the kineticenergy that is normally wasted as heat in thebrakes is recovered, saved in the battery, and then used to get the car movingagain and stall the ignition of thegasoline instrument every time you leave a stoplight. Now, some composites chooseto use their accumulated vigour for accomplishment insteadof outright oil economy. The Acura NSX comes to mind, even Formula One race cars and Le Follower Prototypes. Such cars are stillhybrids, and they still count as electrified vehicles.But– and this isimportant– true hybrids have no rating forelectric assortment. If they did, it would bemeasured in grounds , not miles. Don’t give them run out ofgasoline, in other words. In this regard, they’re justlike any other normal vehicle. HEVs are best for peoplewho live in apartments, miss high gas mileage ora low carbon footprint but don’t have consistentaccess to a charger or don’t want the hassle. So there you have it. Electrification doesn’t meanthe end of gasoline engines. It simply entails awider range of alternatives. At the one extreme, we haveEVs, which are 100% electric.But at the other, we havepure gasoline fueled composites that recycle normallywasted energy to reduce their operation ofgasoline or, in a number of cases, to go faster. In the midriff, wehave plug-in hybrids, which act as EVs aroundtown but can use gasoline for longer trips. Among these threechoices, there’s an electrifiedvehicle for everyone. Thanks for watching. And if you have anyquestions or commentaries, delight, leave them below. For more on this car andothers in our long term fleet, go to Edmunds scattered Tom. Dot Tom? Go to Edmunds dot To– I did it again. What the[ BLEEP ]? Who’s Tom ?.
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