An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. The vehicle can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or can be powered autonomously by a battery or by converting fuel to electricity using a generator or fuel cells. EVs include road and rail vehicles, electric boats and underwater vessels, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft.
Thomas Edison and George Meister in a Studebaker electric runabout, 1909
A charging station in Seattle shows an AMC Gremlin, modified to take electric power; it had a range of about 50 miles (80 km) on one charge, 1973
General Motors EV1 electric car (1996–1998), a subject of the film Who Killed the Electric Car?
A passenger train, taking power through a third rail with return through the traction rails
A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be replenished by connecting a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engine-powered generator. While PHEVs are predominantly passenger cars, there are also plug-in hybrid variants of sports cars, commercial vehicles, vans, utility trucks, buses, trains, motorcycles, mopeds, military vehicles and boats.
The BYD Song plug-in hybrid SUV series is the world's all-time best-selling plug-in hybrid with over 1,050,000 cumulative sales in December 2023.
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was once world's all-time best-selling plug-in hybrid until 2022. Cumulative global sales reached 290,000 units in September 2021.
The Lohner–Porsche Mixte Hybrid was the first gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid automobile.
Lithium-ion battery pack, with cover removed, in a CalCars "PRIUS+" plug-in hybrid converted Toyota Prius converted by EnergyCS