ELECTRIC CAR TERMINOLOGY EXPLAINED

EV

Electric vehicle. Also known as a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) or simply “electric car”, this is a vehicle that uses electricity alone to turn its wheels, without an on-board internal combustion engine. A car that uses elements of both – electric motors and a petrol engine – is called a hybrid.

RANGE

How far a car will go on a single charge. This number could depend on a lot of factors from how fast you travel to how quickly you accelerate; as with petrol or diesel MPG, it may vary.

CHARGING TIME

How long it takes to charge a car’s batteries on a specific type of charger. Often this is measured up to 80 per cent, because when a battery is nearly full it begins to charge a lot more slowly, and normally from a fast charger; most modern electric cars have large batteries that can’t be charged quickly from a domestic three-pin plug.

KWH

A unit of energy. This is the unit used to describe a battery’s capacity, as well as the unit used to charge for electricity. The Kia e-niro 64kwh has a battery capacity of (you guessed it) 64kwh, which means you’ll pay for 64kwh when you charge it from empty; the average kwh cost is a little more than 14p.

RAPID CHARGER

A charger of 43kw or more, which can charge an electric car very quickly. Normally found at service stations and at other public facilities, these chargers are more expensive than charging at home, but ideal for longer journeys. Fast chargers are those between 7kw and 43kw, which are more common.

WALL BOX

An inexpensive device that EV owners can install on their driveway to make charging easier. Charging a Kia e-niro from the three-pin domestic plug you’ve got in the garage will take more than 24 hours, but charging it from a 7kw wall box (right) will probably take 10 hours or so – in other words, you can do it overnight.

WLTP

The Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure, which recently replaced the “new” European Driving Cycle that had been used since the 1990s. These four letters tend to follow the claimed range of an EV, indicating that it has been tested under the more accurate system – though only careful drivers will attain these figures in the real world.