CHAPTER 3 Basic Terminology Perhaps even more confusing than figuring out the size of a battery system or what type of battery is needed is understanding the terminology surrounding it. This is because many of the acronyms tend to have multiple definitions and meanings. One good source for under- standing many of the different terms, and one that is far more complete than this brief sum- mary, is the specification from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1715 (Society for Automotive Engineers, 2014). However, remember that this list is specific to automotive applications; other applications in portable power, grid, and stationary energy may use different terminology.
Vehicle and Industry Terms To begin simply, the abbreviation EV generally refers to an Electric Vehicle (EV), a vehicle that is fully electrified with no internal combustion engine (ICE) whatsoever. All of the power that is provided is done through the electric battery, powering one or more electric motors to provide propulsion and power to all of the other systems on the vehicle. These are also sometimes referred to as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), both terms are used interchangeably.
However, the same abbreviation EV is also used to mean Electrified Vehicles (EVs), which refers to vehicles with all forms of electric power support including microhybrids, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). For the purposes of this book, I will use EV to mean only electric vehicles. A PHEV is a vehicle that has both an electric propulsion system, generally ranging from 10 to about 40 miles of pure electric drive range, along with a combustion engine. This type of hybrid is often a parallel hybrid. In simplest terms, this means that the engine works in parallel with the electric motor.
In this configuration, the electric motor is often “sandwiched” between the engine and the transmission. The benefit of the PHEV configuration is that it offers the full driving range that a comparable ICE vehicle would have—usually between 350 and 500 miles depending on the vehicle ( Figure 1 ).
Similarly, the Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV), also referred to as a Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) or sometimes as a Range Extender (REX), is considered a “series hybrid.” In a series hybrid configuration, the electric motor(s) is(are) generally operated instead of the engine and the motors are not “in-line” with the engine, so you can use one or the other and sometimes both at the same time. In this configuration, the electric motors always power the vehicles propulsion; however, the power source switches between the The Handbook of Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Design. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801456-1.00003-8 Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 23