Do you know the difference between a Hybrid and an Electric Car?

Do you know the difference between a petrol, electric and a hybrid car? If like most of us you think you sort of know the difference you may be surprised to find out that in most cases you are wrong.

Petrol and diesel as we know use petroleum and oil based substances. As the earth natural resources deplete and we we become more aware of the damage of pumping nasty gas's into our atmosphere it is now more important than ever that we look for alternative ways to use our vehicles.

Our love affair with our vehicles is not going to end simply because of environmental issues. Instead for years motor manufacturers have invested billions into finding alternative power sources.? After all for some the car they drive is not just a functional vehicle is it a status symbol, a work of art, an aspiration.

At last the UK government has enforced rules which long term will improve our air quality and declared the start of the end for diesel vehicles.

So what are your choices and what are the alternatives.

Do you know the difference between a plug in and a hybrid?

Simply put a Hybrid will normally run on both petrol and elect and be able to recharge its own batteries using the petrol engine.

Example are

Toyota Yaris hybrid
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Mercedes C Class C300 H
BMW i8
Volvo XC90 T8
Volkswagen Golf GTE
BMW i3
Toyota Pruis
Audi A3 etron

Some Hybrid's however can be plug in. This means that as well as having the options to use petrol to re-charge the battery you can also plug the vehicle directly into a power source.

So to recap a Hybrid uses both petrol and electric.

An electric vehicle as it suggests is only ever powered by electric and uses no petrol. This however has normally always come at a cost in that the ranges are normally limited and performance was historically no where near as good as the petrol driven varieties.

That was until Now !

With government and public opinion now fully focused on the search for the ultimate electric car the race is on. Tesla changed the goal posts and introduced a stylish car with power and range and the motor industry is fast behind them and in some cases has over taken them as the leaders of the fully electric market.

Examples of fully electric cars and Auto Express's top ten are

Best electric cars 2017

BMW i3
Renault Zoe
Tesla Model S ( we think that it is only the price which stops this from being in 1st place )
Volkswagen e-Golf
Nissan Leaf
Hyundai Ioniq
Tesla Model X
Volkswagen e-Up
Smart For Two ED
Nissan e- NV200 Combi

With the demise of the diesel engine we are sure it will not be long before we are all up close and personal with a Hybrid or fully electric vehicle.