EV Glossary
Along with electric vehicles, new concepts belonging to them entered our lives. When talking about or searching for electric vehicles, you can check here the meanings of the concepts that you may encounter frequently.
EV: EV, electric vehicle, is defined as a vehicle that can be driven by an electric motor that draws power from a battery and is capable of being charged from an external source.
BEV: A battery electric vehicle, exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, with no secondary source of energy. They must be plugged in to recharge when the battery is depleted. Most BEVs use lithium-ion batteries but the term would apply to other types of batteries, too.
PHEV: A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is a vehicle with two separate drivetrains: a combustion engine that can be refueled with gasoline and a high-voltage battery pack that can be recharged by an external electric power source. The two drivetrains generally operate serially - the battery is used for propulsion first and when depleted, the gasoline engine switches on. Occasionally, PHEVs use gas power to assist the propulsion battery at high speeds or steep inclines.
HEV: A hybrid electric vehicle is a hybrid electric vehicle that does not have a plug and is refueled only by gas. The battery in a mild hybrid vehicle is recharged with the gas engine and regenerative braking. They can also be known as traditional hybrids or mild hybrids. The important difference between HEVs and BEVs is that in HEVs, the battery does not propel the car
WLTP: A modern test that measures the fuel consumption and emissions of vehicles in real-world driving.
Level 1 Charging: Charging your EV using a common household outlet up to 120V.
Level 2 Charging: Level 2 charging is what we call charging with 240 volts; it charges the vehicle up to 10 times faster than Level 1 charging. At home, Level 2 charging uses the same sort of plug that a washing machine uses.
Level 3 Charging: Level 3 charging is the fastest type of charging available and can recharge an EV at a rate of 3 to 20 miles of range per minute. Unlike Level 1 and Level 2 charging which uses alternating current (AC), level 3 charging uses direct current (DC).
DC: Direct Current (DC) is electric current that flows only in one direction. This is the sort of electricity that is needed to charge your car's battery directly. If you are charging using an AC charger (Level 1 or Level 2), the car’s onboard charger must convert the AC to DC. On the other hand, DC fast chargers are much faster because the energy does not need to be converted in order to be used by the battery.
AC: Alternating Current (AC) is electric current that reverses its flow very quickly and very frequently, and is the main sort of electricity that most home appliances use. It is also the way that electricity comes out of the plug. However, EVs need this AC power to be converted to DC to power the battery. The conversion between AC to DC is why AC charging takes longer than DC.
DCFC: Direct-Current Fast Charger (DCFC), sometimes referred to as a Level 3 DC charging or supercharging, uses a 3-phase 480 volt AC electric circuit but delivers DC to the vehicle.
CHAdeMO: It is a rapid-charging connector system for battery electric vehicles, developed in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association.
CCS: The Combined Charging System (CCS) is a type of connector used for rapid-charging. The CCS connector uses some connections of the Type 2 interface and adds two additional DC power lines which are capable of running at higher voltages compared to the standard connector.
MCS: Megawatt Charging System, is a charging standard under development for DC charging of commercial vehicles with output up to 3.75 MW.
Range: It is the distance a car can travel on a single charge, stated as a single number that is the best guess for the car under ideal conditions. It may be different from the EPA range, dashboard range, and real range.
Dashboard Range: The dashboard range is a car’s current range as displayed to the driver in the car. It is calculated using proprietary calculations and may take into effect current battery state of charge, temperature, terrain, and past driving habits. Some car manufacturers display a dashboard range that is more sensitive to some of these factors.
Real Range: The real range of a car is the actual, moment-by-moment distance that it can go on the remaining battery charge. This number is a moving target, since it is impacted by a lot of factors, including speed, temperature, topography, and other traffic conditions. Thus, the ‘real range’ of an EV may be higher or lower than the EPA range or dashboard range.
EPA Range: EPA Range is a number that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes for each electric vehicle on the market, detailing how far that car can drive on a full charge under very specific driving conditions.
Range anxiety: Range anxiety, or “charging anxiety” as it is sometimes known, is the fear that EVs will run out of power on the road, leaving drivers stranded, or that they won’t be able to charge their car when they really need to.
Calendar aging: Calendar Aging is the natural, baseline degradation of a lithium ion battery with age. It cannot be stopped or slowed, but it can be made worse. Calendar aging will happen whether or not a battery is used.
Temporary range loss: Cold weather temporarily reduces EV battery range. Some EVs can lose up to 35% of their range in freezing conditions, but each model performs differently, and this loss is only temporary. All electric cars experience some degree of range loss in cold weather.
OBC: An On-Board Charger (OBC) is a charger that is built into the car. The on-board charger allows you to control the current and voltage at which the battery needs to be charged, thus taking care of the battery lifespan. It also converts AC power from the grid to DC power for the battery.
SAE J1772: The SAE J1772, also known as a J plug or Type 1 connector, is a North American standard for electrical connectors in EVs, supporting a wide range of AC currents.
Battery cell: The smallest unit in an EV’s overall battery pack. Thousands of cells are often required to store enough electricity for an EV.
Battery module: A group of battery cells bundled together in an EV’s overall battery pack.
Battery pack: The total structure of an EV’s battery. It includes all modules and the cells that compose them, the enclosure, and structural features.
Kilowatts: A watt measures the rate of power consumption, and a kilowatt is 1,000 watts. It feels confusing at first, but, a kilowatt is a rate of energy, while a kilowatt hour is the amount of energy.
Kilowatt Hour: A Kilowatt Hour (kWh) is the measurement of an EV battery capacity, or size– one kilowatt of power for one hour.
EVSE: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) is the proper name for what most people call EV chargers. Technically, the charger itself is in the EV (see onboard charger). EVSEs are the devices used to deliver energy to the onboard charger, including the electrical conductors, related equipment, software, and communications protocols.
BMS: Battery Management System (BMS) is computer software and hardware dedicated to the oversight of a battery pack. Monitoring the battery includes providing battery protection, estimating the battery’s operational state, continually optimizing battery performance, and reporting operational status to external devices. The BMS is also closely linked with the thermal management systems that keep modern EV batteries in a safe temperature range.
Volt: A volt is a measure of electric potential energy, or the electric pressure that pushes electrons through a circuit.
Amp: Short for ampere, Amp is a unit that is used to measure electric current, or speed of electricity. Amps is often used to indicate capacity in an EV charger.
Regenerative braking: Regenerative Braking turns your car’s kinetic energy into electricity to recharge its battery and boost efficiency. When you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal and onto the brake, the motor swaps directions and starts to put energy back into the battery.
CP: Control pilot: Signal contact or signal line in a Type 1, Type 2, and GB/T charging cable. Used to transfer control information between the charging station and the vehicle.
PP: Proximity pilot: Signal contact or signal line in the Type 2 charging cable. Provides the vehicle with information that charging is taking place with a specific charging current so that the immobilizer is activated.
CC: Connection confirmation: Signal contact or signal line in the GB/T charging cable. Provides the vehicle with information that charging is taking place with a specific charging current so that the immobilizer is activated.
CS: Connection switch: Signal contact or signal line in the Type 1 charging cable. Notifies the charging station when the locking lever on the charging connector has been operated so that the charging station interrupts the charging current.
IC-CPD: In-cable control-and-protection device: A control and protection device integrated into the charging cable. Enables single-phase AC charging in accordance with charging mode 2 at household sockets with power of up to 3.6 kW.
Backend: Enables the CPO to operate its charging points on the software side. It includes user management, payment processing (usually via a third-party service provider or roaming provider), and technical monitoring of the charging points via a cloud.
OCPP: Open charge point protocol. Used for communication between the charging station and the back end.
V2G: vehicle-to-grid, bidirectional charging mode. The vehicle can be charged from the grid and provide enerhy to grid if needed.
V2H: Vehicle to home. Vehicle acts as home battery. The supplied energy is not transferred back into the grid; instead it is used to maximize the autonomy (self-sufficiency) of the home.
V2V: (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) charging technology is a technology that allows electric vehicles to transfer energy between each other. Energy in one vehicle’s battery can be used by another vehicle.
V2L: (Vehicle-to-Load) technology is a system that allows electric vehicles to power external devices from their batteries. Energy transfer is realized by using a suitable inverter of the correct voltage and current in the vehicle batteries using this system
Resources: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/ev-glossary/
https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/ev-dictionary
https://evsafecharge.com/ev-terms-glossary/#:~:text=Electric%20Vehicle%20Glossary%20of%20Terms,stored%20in%20rechargeable%20battery%20packs
https://www.phoenixcontact.com/en-us/industries/e-mobility/principles-of-e-mobility-charging-technology
https://www.keremcilli.com/elektrikli-otomobiller-powerbank-olabilir/