Hybrids, plug-ins, and extended-range electric cars are hitting the market. Use this interactive primer to learn how they work.
Hybrids such as Toyota's Prius have become a common sight. Now major automakers are proposing a next generation of hybrids that can be plugged in to extend their electric range and vastly improve fuel economy. This interactive graphic shows how conventional hybrids work, as well as how two versions of these proposed plug-in hybrids, one labeled "Plug-in Hybrid" and the other "Extended-Range Electric," work. Each of these plug-in hybrids operates differently when the battery is charged versus when it is largely depleted. Click on one of the five buttons above to view animations of how the vehicles operate under different driving conditions. Each vehicle operates during a stylized drive cycle, starting at low speeds, accelerating to highway speeds, and then decelerating to a stop. If at any time you'd like to pause the animation or select a different part of the drive cycle, click on the appropriate section of the graph at the bottom right of the graphic.
The first type of plug-in hybrid, labeled "Plug-in Hybrid," is basically a conventional hybrid vehicle with a larger battery pack. Companies such as Toyota and Ford are developing hybrids of this type. For heavy acceleration and high speed, these vehicles rely on power from both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. But a larger battery pack in plug-in hybrids allows them to rely much more on electricity than conventional hybrids do.
"Extended-Range Electric" vehicles represent a radical departure from conventional hybrids. Whereas in conventional hybrids, the wheels are turned by an electric motor, a gasoline engine, or both, the wheels in these new cars will be turned only by a large electric motor. For short trips, the motor will run on battery power alone. For longer trips, a gasoline-powered generator kicks in to supply electricity.
Interactive graphic by Alastair Halliday
A new wave of plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles will have to overcome a familiar nemesis: battery costs.
A Chinese-built electric sedan could be the first on sale in the United States, but it will quickly face competition.
Adapting hybrids to be used as an engine source for mass transit (ie light rail or suspended rail) is my first choice for this technology since it's proven that electric drivetrain technology has huge torque capabilities.
A small train-like solution can be powered by using a front ended train engine and operator compartment, and a back-end large battery - rear facing safety monitor compartment that could be rigged to pull large trains of small personal cube-like cars that are either rail based or suspended above the pull car track like amusement ride rollercoasters.
By using batteries as the power source and arranging them in series for more power and distance, it's quite possible to get much higher commuter mileage out of them. A dual use system could provide the advantage that bigger trains pulling goods like big-rigs do today could lead to reducing congestion and lowering operational costs for everyone.
It would be quiet, very smooth riding and probably darn energy efficient to run. Retrofitting roads for the tracks would be the expensive part, and best of all - these jobs can't be off-shored!
Besides - the costs for new Hybrids will be beyond most normal wage earners reach, and mass transit will be the most likely candidate for future commuters and generations.
No mention here of pure EV. The TeslaMotors Roadster is just a sportscar, but gets 200+ miles range, 125mph top, 130mpg equivalent. Sticker (2009 model) is base $109,000. Being intro'd in EU next year, too, at $155,000 fully loaded special edition.
The lead-acid battery is last century's tech. The Roadster uses 6831 little LiIon batteries arranged in 12 modules. Recharges in, e.g., 3-4 hrs on a 240V/70A line.
Good point. Of course, a pure electric car graphic is pretty simple.
Yes, the Roadster motor sits directly between the rear wheels, as the "axle". Weighs about 115 lbs, cooling included. ~280 HP.
Click on the "motor" button, here:
http://www.teslamotors.com/design/under_the_skin.php
Does that work out to 67 kWH per charge? Even at PNW grid rates, that would be more than $5 to go less than 200 mi ... perhaps 130 mi in reality. With gasoline under $3/gal and a 45 mpg Prius hybrid, that might mean the Tesla roadster would only be 1.7 to 2.67 x better effective mpg.
I agree that mass transit is a great app for hybrid tech. There are already a number of hybrid buses on the road. And GE has a hybrid locomotive. http://ge.ecomagination.com/site/downloads/hybr/Hybrid_onepager_en.pdf
Hybrid garbage trucks and delivery trucks are also a good idea.
I think the application space for hybrids will shrink considerably as LiIon battery tech improves. Silicon nanowire tech etc. promise energy densities up to 10X current levels, which are already very good. Hybrid tech involves a complete parallel system, and reduces, but does not eliminate, hydrocarbon fuel use and contamination.
Mass transit operators would have the advantage of having optimized charging feeds (high amperage), not accessible to private non-fleet vehicles.
Can someone explain to me why no one seems to want to put a diesel engine/generator in these cars? Why stick with gasoline? Think about a diesel electric (like WWII sub or today's locomotives), with the possibility of using the grease-car approach or biodiesel.
Guest (mheslep)
Yes, Mr Electric, Bob Lutz from GM has an answer for you: new EPA diesel standards.
See the video here:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/12/video-bob-lutz-expounds-on-diesel-in-america/
He claims EPA standards are so tight, and that gas ICE efficiency is coming on so fast that it makes since for at least the Volt to stay gas. Take it or leave it.
Guest (energymv@gmail.com)
Any transition to plug-in hybrids or all EV's will begin to tax the grid. It emphasizes the need to upgrade the electric distribution system to supply electricity to the added load of thousands of plug-in hybrids pulling into their garages at 5:30 pm everyday. The present distribution system does not have the capacity in most regions. Electric power capacity reserves are currently at a record low.
The grid will be fine during this first generation of electric car conversion. The solar "singularity" is coming close enough that it should blend quite well with the change to electric vehicles and eventually blending with hydrogen generated tech.
Our new energy world is right around the next corner!
The cars featured in this nice demo is not what we in Europe think of as electric cars. A <i>real</i> electric car has only the electric motor, and has the ability to have a minimal CO2 footprint, if charged with power from a windturbine.
I was hoping to see a demo off some of the new technologies to control acceleration, deacceleration, charging etc. that with new batterytypes are extending the range of electric cars to more than 130 km on a single charge - more than enough for most dayly commutes.
Project better place is about such cars, and I hope to be driving such a car in about 3 years..
Guest (rafael7)
I think the Flinstones Car is about as green as it gets. I did have a car when I was five that worked on a similar principle, but with a chain assist.
We must learn from aerospace development.
Internal combustion engine is reciprocating, it is least efficient.
Yet it needs explosion in every interval shorter than eyes blink, so it needs volatile, pure volatile, so it is costly, energy intensive to refine.
Yet is exploded at so high temperature, caused nitrogen to explode.
The key is to change from reciprocating ICE to rotating turbo-electric generator to sustain longer distance, heavier load.
Turbo can burn on lower grade fuel with more complete combustion, but need steam boilers, too bulky.
So you need "Direct Thermal Transport" to burn even the lowest grade of combustibles to attain high speed,highly directional exhaust to drive miniature turbine.
Read "Energy Solvere"
Money cannot save General Motors
This can
Solvere Lim Swee Keng
SM(MIT), MBA(Law)
Engineer, Inventor, Economist with Philosophical Depth
CtS Cognoscere tenuse Solvere
Cognize before Happening
Solving beyond Root Causes
here in the San Francisco Bay Area most of the garbage trucks, airport buses, municipal vehicles and some taxis run on methane. In oakland alone there are three filling stations. Present price is $1.69 per gallon EQ. Even my Ford econoline van produces less CO2 than a Prius. Much of the fuel used is reclaimed from our garbage! Methane is not as energetic [128 octane] or as clean as hydrogen, but the tech is off-the-shelf, cheaper, & home refillers are available [although T. Boone Pickens bought the patents and the price is 10x what it was]. Build your own? In my opinion, if we used a lot of the methane that is presently warming the planet, it would reverse global climate change. A methane generator in a hybrid vehicle would be just gravy!
I fully agree the the future trends towards electric and hybrid vehicles but we have to also think about the battery volumes to be used by a vehicle and its biodegradability otherwise it will be another mass polluting element for the environment
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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killian
74 Comments
terminology
What GM now called Range Extended Electric Vehicle is also known as a Serial Hybrid.
Reply
Kevin Bullis
178 Comments
Re: terminology
Hybrid researchers are telling me that the extended-range v. plug-in distinction we're making here is more useful than the old parallel and series categories. That's in part because the Prius isn't exactly a parallel, in a traditional sense.
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petty
2 Comments
Re: terminology
no wonder why hybrids got so much in-demand these days to the car-buying public. Through hybrids (ex: oem vw parts online), we can save gas & thus, they are environmentally friendly and causes less pollution.
Reply