What is PHEV?

Question

If EV is electric vehicle, so what does PHEV stand for? What is that?

Answer 1

Plug-In (or Pluggable)
Hybrid
Electric
Vehicle

The currently available hybrid electric vehicles are not able to be plugged into the electric grid to recharge their batteries, nor is their battery packs large enough to go for much more than a mile or so on electric only.

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle would have a larger battery pack and the ability to recharge it off of the electric grid. So, for the first 40 miles or so, you'd be using the electric motor only, which would cover the average American's commute. If you need to drive further, then the car reverts to something like the current hybrids - recharging itself off of the gasoline engine and using the gasoline engine for some or most of its power. When you get home from work at night, you plug it in, when electric charges are often lowest and help to balance out the power load. Sometimes you'll see it listed as a HEV-#, where # is the number of miles the vehicle can go on electric-only.

There is a group that has converted a Toyota Prius to be a PHEV. EPA combined MPG of a standard Prius is 55MPG (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/22016.shtml). After the conversion they're estimating that it gets over 100MPG (over 1000 miles on a tank of gasoline).
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/03/new_plugin_hybr_1.html
http://www.calcars.org/
http://www.edrivesystems.com/index.html

Answer 2

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid which has additional battery capacity and the ability to be recharged from an external electrical outlet. In addition, modifications are made to the vehicle's control software. The vehicle can be used for short trips of moderate speed without needing the internal combustion engine (ICE) component of the vehicle, thereby saving fuel costs. In this mode of operation the vehicle operates as a pure electric vehicle with a weight penalty (the ICE). The long range and additional power of the ICE power train is available when needed.

PHEVs are commonly called "grid-connected hybrids," "gas-optional hybrids" (GO-HEVs), "full hybrids," and are sometimes called HEV-30 (for instance, to denote a hybrid with a 30-mile (50 km) electric range, compared to a HEV-0 (a non-plug-in hybrid).