Can you tell a PHEV from a V2G? Calls to end electric car jargon

LONDON: Electric car campaigners in Britain are calling on manufacturers to "hit the brakes" on jargon used to describe battery-powered vehicles, which many people are said to find confusing.

Acronyms such as PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) and MHEV (mild hybrid electric vehicle) should be outlawed, campaigners from the non-profit lobby group Electric Vehicles UK told the Times newspaper.

The pro-electric car campaigners are calling on the carmakers and the advertising watchdog ASA to clamp down on what they called the "alphabet soup" of terms used to describe the vehicles.

"The fact that some carmakers can describe vehicle power trains with such confusing, and sometimes inaccurate, names needs to be investigated," said chief executive Dan Caesar.

Ginny Buckley, founder of the advice website Electrifying.com, said that a survey among more than 11,000 UK drivers showed that one in five found electric car terminology confusing.

"It’s time for carmakers and the advertising industry to hit the brakes on jargon and misinformation, replacing it with simple, honest language to make car buying more straightforward," she said.

For those struggling with some of the terminology, here is a list of the most common acronyms you are likely to come across.

EV: An electric vehicle (EV) is essentially any kind of vehicle powered by electricity. The phrase is typically used to mean electric cars without a conventional (petrol or diesel) engine. Sometimes this kind of car is referred to as a battery electric vehicle (BEV).

HEV : A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) combines a conventional engine (usually petrol) with batteries and an electric motor. The motor is also used to recover energy and recharge the battery during braking or coasting.

MHEV : A mild hybrid (MHEV) car uses a traditional petrol or diesel engine to send power to the wheels, along with a small, battery-powered electric motor to help with acceleration, boost fuel economy and lower emissions.

PHEV : A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a vehicle that has a traditional petrol engine, but also an electric motor which gets its electricity from a battery, hence the term 'hybrid'.

SAEV : This still rare technology denotes a solar-assisted electric vehicle usually fitted with solar panels which convert sunlight into electricity.

SAEV* : Confusingly, the same set of letters is also used to denote so-called shared autonomous electric vehicles (SAEVs) which reduce energy consumption by optimising routes.

V2G : Vehicle to grid (V2G) technology allows EV batteries to store energy and release it back to the electric grid when it is needed most.

ZEV : Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) are vehicles that produce no exhaust emissions during operation. This includes vehicles that run on hydrogen or use a fuel-cell which produces electricity with only water vapour as an emission.