The auto industry hopes to rev up the public’s acceptance of electric cars with the rollout of the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt. Leaf and the plug-in Volt will start around $36,000 and $39,000. To get you ready for the 2012 electric vehicle product line Penske Automotive Group has prepared a electric vehicle glossary to insure you are up-to-date and savvy on these eco-friendly models. 
- Battery electric vehicle (BEV): This is a vehicle powered solely or primarily by a battery or battery pack. You charge the battery and run the car with no gas involved.
- Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV): Vehicle that runs on electric motors and battery power for some distance before a combustion engine starts generating electricity. GM considers the Volt an example.
- Electric Vehicle Support Equipment (EVSE) – The “charging” equipment used to maintain a charge on EV battery systems.
- Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV): Any vehicle that can draw propulsion energy from a combination of a consumable fuel and an energy storage device such as a battery, capacitor or flywheel.
- Kilowatt-hour (kWh): Measures of electrical energy.
- Level 1 charging: Charging from a typical wall socket, typically a 110- or 120-volt outlet. Electric vehicles gain five to six miles for every hour they charge on Level 1.
- Level 2 charging: Charging from a 220- or 240-volt outlet. This goes much faster than a regular wall outlet because it pulls more current at a higher voltage. Most electric vehicle owners install Level 2 charging systems in their homes. An EV can get 10 to 60 miles of range per hour of charging depending on the amperage of the circuit.
- Level 3 charging (DC Fast Charging): A specialized high-voltage system that can charge a battery pack in about 30 minutes. It requires a special port on the electric vehicle and a special charging station that, as of now, is not widely available.
- Off-peak charging: Charging the battery pack during periods of low demand for electricity, usually at night. This can reduce the cost of charging.
- Parallel hybrid: A vehicle where drive power is supplied by both an electric motor and a combustion engine working together.
- Plug-in hybrid vehicle: The vehicle has a battery pack that powers a motor and can be charged through an electrical outlet. Such a car will also have a combustion engine that extends the range of the vehicle once the battery is drained. The extended range can come through the combustion engine powering the wheels or through the engine generating electricity to run the electric motor in the car.
- Partial zero emissions vehicle (PZEV): A vehicle that has some sort of technology, that allows the car to travel at least some of the time without spewing emissions.
- Range anxiety: Fear of not having enough power in the battery to get to a destination.
- Regenerative braking – the reversal of an electric motor of an electric vehicle when it slows through braking or by lifting off of the accelerator. The reversal causes the electric motor to become an electric generator feeding electricity back into the battery of the car.
- Series hybrid vehicle: A vehicle in which power is delivered to the drive wheels solely by an electric motor but which uses a combustion engine to provide electric energy to the battery or the electric motor.
- Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV): That means no pollutants come out of its tailpipe. Such vehicles include electric cars and fuel-cell vehicles and often qualify for government sales incentives and other perks such as carpool lane permits.
