PART 3 – EV Glossary

EV GLOSSARY    

In alphabetic order…

ADAS               Advanced Driver Assist Systems are software programs, such as Cruise Control, Lane Guidance, and Lane Centering, which can be selectively engage to make highway driving easier and safer. While many cars (both gas or EVs) have some or all these features, they are not all created equally, with some limited in their capabilities, and/or restricted to specific roads and situations.

BEV                  Battery Electric Vehicles, also known as EV’s, are 100% electric vehicles.

Bidirectional     The ability for an EV’s to use their battery to power external items. (See V2L below.) Not all EV’s have this ability.

BMS                  Battery Management System−The vehicle’s software that maintains and optimizes battery health and charging.

CCS                  The Combined Charging Standard was the original charging port and cable standard used by every car company in North American other than Nissan and Tesla. However, in 2023 CCS was superseded by (Tesla’s) NACS standard when every car maker selling in the US market agreed to switch over to NACS. It is expected that by 2026, few, if any, new cars in North America will be sold with CCS ports. (See NACS below.)

DCFC             DC Fast Chargers (AKA Level 3, or L3, charging) are chargers using DC power. These “fast chargers” are typically found along highway routes, as opposed to the slower AC chargers used at home and for destination chargers. Fast chargers come in different speeds, from lowly 30 kW chargers (charging at a max speed of 87 miles/hour) to the latest 350 kW chargers (charging at a max speed of 1,012 miles/hour).

 Fast chargers come in two main variants: CCS and NACS. This is a critically important aspect that can dramatically affect your road-tripping experience depending on your vehicle, and whether it can charge at NACS chargers. (This is further discussed in Handouts 4 and 5.)

Destination Chargers    These free or low-cost chargers are typically found at lodgings, shopping centers, and public spaces. Known as Level 2 or L2 chargers, they use 220/240v AC outlet, and charge at about 25 miles per hour.

EREV or E-REV  Extended-Range Electric Vehicle. Like EV’s, EREV’s are driven by their battery and motors, rather than a gas engine, and therefore have the same instant power and torque advantage EVs have over gas vehicles and other types of hybrids. However, unlike EVs, they also have a gas tank and a small gas engine used to charge their battery, giving them their extended range. EREVs are sometimes offered in plug-in versions. Note that most EREVs cannot use DCFCs.

EV                     Electric Vehicles are fully electric vehicles (unlike HEVs, PHEVs and EREVs, which have gas engines in addition to batteries). EV’s are also known as BEVs to help distinguish them from these other types of electric vehicles.

HEV                Traditional Hybrids (HEVs) are the oldest and simplest type of hybrid. They’re just regular gas cars paired with a small battery to help boost mileage.

Hybrids          Hybrid are vehicles with two sources of energy – a gas engine, and a battery typically fed via regenerative braking (see Regeneration below). There are three types of hybrids: HEVsthe simple, traditional kind, PHEVs (see below) which have larger batteries than the simple kind, and can be plugged into a regular outlet for battery charging, and EREVs, some models of which can be plugged in. Both HEVs and PHEVs are gas-engine driven. EREVs, like BEVs/EVs, however, are battery driven.

ICE                This abbreviation stands for Internal Combustion Engine, and refers to gas cars. (As EV proponents are apt to say: “The ICE age is ending.”)

LEVELS 1, 2, 3  The Level 1, 2 and 3 designations signify the type of electrical outlet used for charging. Level 1 (L1) chargers, using 110v/120v AC outlets, are the slowest. L2 chargers use the much faster 220v/240v AC outlets. (See “Destination Chargers” above.) And L3 chargers use significantly faster DC powered outlets. This is why L3s are also known as fast chargers and go by the anacronym DCFC (see above). Tesla calls their own L3 chargers “Superchargers”.

NACS             Developed by Tesla, the North American Charging Standard has replaced CCS as the de facto charging port and cable standard for North American DCFC. Every car company selling in North America is now dedicated to building their vehicles with NACS, rather than CCS, ports. Hyundai will be the first to do so in the Fall of ’24 with their refreshed Ioniq 5 XRT. (In December 2023, SAE International sanctified NACS when it released its J3400 specifications.)

One Pedal Driving     Just like bumper cars and golf carts, some EVs employ “one pedal driving” whereby taking your foot off the accelerator slows the car, and depending on the vehicle, brings it to a stop. (Yes, there’s also a brake pedal should you need one!) Some EV companies allow you to select how strongly the one-pedal-driving slows the vehicle; others don’t offer this feature. (Also see Regeneration below.) 

OTA               Over-the-Air is a technique to update vehicle software via the internet. A few companies, such as Tesla, use OTA for all their updates, negating the need to visit a service center. Some companies only use OTA for simple updates. Others only use “OTA” when the vehicle is taken into the service center. And others, can’t use OTA at all. Nonetheless, OTA is where EV technology is heading.

PHEV             PHEVs(pronounced P-hevs) are Plug-in Hybrid EVs. Like HEVs, they use their gas tank and engine to drive the vehicle when the battery is depleted. PHEV batteries are significantly larger than non-plug-in hybrid batteries (although quite smaller than those in fully electric, BEV/EV, vehicles). Note that most PHEVs cannot use DCFCs.

Plug and Charge Protocols are communication protocols facilitating automatic and seamless payment from the electric vehicle (EV) to the charging station operator. When functioning, the charging station automatically recognizes the car that’s plugged in. And the car in turn, is tied to a credit card for automatic approval and payment. (Non “Plug and Charge” chargers require either a credit card or an account set up with the charging station operator through an app.) 

Preconditioning      The process of heating or cooling the battery to an optimal temperature. This can occur before driving, so the battery works at an optimal efficiency, or before charging, to optimize the charging speed.

Regeneration    AKA, regenerative braking, or “regen”, is a technique to slow up (or is it “slow down”?) a car while capturing upwards of 70% of the car’s kinetic energy to recharge the battery. (The actual percent captured depends on the car model.) For cars using “one pedal driving”, regen occurs whenever you take your foot off the accelerator, and works by using the wheels’ motors in lieu of traditional braking using brake pads, rotors, and tires to slow the vehicle. Thus, regen also has the benefit of drastically reducing replacement costs for these parts. In some EVs, the regen is so good that brake pads and rotors are rarely used.

SoC or SOC     The State of Charge is the percentage a battery is charged at any moment.