Anyone know about plug-ins vs hybrids?

Question

i was reading an article on Yahoo about plug-in vehicles, i'm trying to figure out the lingo and meaning...

i understand plug-ins would use LESS gas... however doesn't it seem like we would be going backward having to find places to plug in our cars?

also plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) the highest they go (as of possible release in 2010) looks to be PHEV-60

does this mean it can go 60 mpg or what?

if that is the case i hear they are putting smaller gas tanks in these which to me seems like it would still put you at the gas station just as often ( i know price would be a lot cheaper BUT time is very important also since you can make more money but you can't make more time)?

Hopefully some of that made since and someone with some PHEV/HEV knowledge can help me out.

Answer 1

Technically, a hybrid car has 2 different kinds of engines in it, wether its EV/internal combustion engine or EV/hydrogen engine

A plug in should be a EV car that plugs into an electrical outlet to charge the batteries wether it has in it a internal combustion engine or not.

Answer 2

>> however doesn't it seem like we would be going backward having to find places to plug in our cars?

If you live in cities, this is impossible.  But if you live in the suburbs, you park in the driveway every day.

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>> PHEV-60 - does this mean it can go 60 mpg or what?

No it means it has enough charge to go 60 MILES.

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>> i hear they are putting smaller gas tanks

They put in smaller thanks because it uses less gas. If you look at all the cars in the world, they all can go about 300 miles to 400 miles on one full tank.  My Civic has just 11 gallon tank yet it can go 425 miles (that is about 40 mpg - not even a hybrid).  So I don't fill up more often than the suv with 25 gallon tank.  

Same with the hybrids.

Good luck...

Answer 3

A plug-in hybrid simply means you have more options.

You can drive a plug-in hybrid exclusively using gasoline if you wish (without ever plugging it in), because it does have an onboard gasoline engine.

Or if you don't want to use so much gas, you can plug it in every night after you get home to charge up the battery so it can go further on electric alone.  Once the battery charge is depleted, it will switch to the gasoline engine for power.

Only purely electric cars require plugging in.  Plug-in Hybrids do not require plugging in as long as you got gasoline in the fuel tank.