What are the different types of hybrid car?

HYBRID cars are becoming the most prominent new models on the market as more buyers make the switch from conventional petrol and diesel power to a hybrid of one sort or another. Acting as a halfway house between traditional internal-combustion-engined (ICE) cars and fully electric models, a hybrid will offer greater economy, tax benefits, and fewer emissions than their fully ICE counterparts by assisting their petrol (or sometimes diesel) engines with electric power.

A full hybrid or ‘parallel hybrid’ uses a combustion engine and electric motors to drive the car, either simultaneously or independently. The most common type of hybrid, full hybrids, can hold small amounts of electric charge. This will provide extra power that is employed in conjunction with a combustion engine, thus improving fuel economy. The electric motors are built into the drivetrain, so a full hybrid can run in electric-only mode, although usually only at low speeds in town and for very limited distances.

Mild hybrids also use an electric motor alongside a combustion engine, but the two can’t be used independently of one another. Instead, the motor is used solely to assist the engine. Typically the cheapest way into hybrid ownership, mild hybrids offer a simpler powertrain with modest gains in power and efficiency.

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (or PHEV) is a hybrid that can be plugged in to charge its batteries. It moves the hybrid concept closer to that of a full-electric vehicle, by adding bigger batteries that can be charged from an external power source, providing a much better electriconly range than you’d get from a full hybrid.