Electric Car Encyclopedia: Glossary of Electric Cars

What do all the abbreviations and expressions that appear when talking about electric cars actually mean? We at Kvdbil have created an electric car encyclopedia, which makes it easy for you to find the right one in the jungle of expressions and abbreviations.

AC charging

What is usually used when charging at home or at work is an AC charger. It supplies alternating current which then has to be converted to direct current in order to be stored. The charging speed is typically 11 kW.

Battery health

Also abbreviated as SOH in many cases, which stands for State of Health. SOH gives an indication of how much capacity the battery has left compared to when it was new.

Read more: How we measure battery health in our vehicle test

BEV

Is an abbreviation for the English Battery Electric Vehicle.

Battery capacity

Refers to the amount of electrical energy that the battery can store. Battery capacity is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh).

DC charging

A DC charger, also known as a fast charger, generates direct current directly into the battery. This type of charger converts alternating current to direct current before sending the energy to the car, which means that the finished direct current goes directly to the battery. This bypasses the car's so-called on-board charger and thus enables a much higher output.

EV

Stands for Electric Vehicle, often used synonymously with BEV (see above).

Single-pedal driving

A choice you can set in your electric car is that you accelerate by pressing the accelerator pedal and that you brake when you release the accelerator pedal.

Electric car insurance

There is no major difference between insuring an electric car and a fossil-fueled car. You can read more about it here.

Home charging

Usually done through a charging box you have installed, specifically adapted to charge slowly with so-called AC charging (see above).

Tip: Become a member with us and rent a charging box at a discounted price.

Inductive charging

Inductive charging means that the electric car is charged wirelessly, without the need to plug in any cables. Inductive charging is mainly used in the premium segment and is still uncommon, but is seen as a step towards smoother and more automated electric car charging.

Ionity

A charging network owned and financed by, among others, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes Benz and the Volkswagen group with Audi and Porsche that can offer better prices on charging via membership

Kilowatt hours (kWh) are a unit of energy. One kWh represents the amount of energy consumed when a device that draws 1000 watts (1 kW) is used for one hour. The battery size in an electric car is measured in kWh and indicates how much energy the battery can store, in the same way that the number of liters indicates how much can be stored in the tank of a gasoline car. The larger the battery, the longer the range of the electric car between charges. The battery in electric cars is typically in the range of 50 to 100 kWh.

Charging cable: A cable required to charge your electric car and connects the charging box/charging post to the car.

Charging speed: Charging speed describes how quickly an electric car battery can be filled with energy and is measured in kilowatts (kW). The higher the power, the faster the charging. With fast charging, many electric cars can fill up large parts of the battery in 20–40 minutes, while regular home charging takes several hours.

Charging station: A charging station is a place where electric cars can be plugged in to charge their batteries. The charging station is the electric car equivalent of a gas pump.

Load balancer: Load balancing ensures that an electric car charger does not overload the house's electrical system and it also helps to measure electricity consumption in the home.

Lithium-ion battery: The type of battery that powers electric cars. And they store energy in the form of direct current. In contrast, electricity from the power grid is supplied in the form of alternating current, which requires a conversion process before the power can be stored in the battery.

Charging curve: Charging an electric car battery can be compared to looking for a parking space in a parking lot. At the beginning, there is plenty of space, and the charging current – that is, the electrons – can quickly fill the empty cells in the battery, much like cars quickly find free spaces. But as the battery starts to fill up, there are fewer free "parking spaces" left. Then charging slows down. Charging normally goes fastest up to 80 percent.

LFP battery: LFP stands for lithium iron phosphate cells and has become increasingly popular in electric cars.

Charging capacity: Charging capacity describes how much power an electric car can receive when charging and is measured in kilowatts (kW). It determines how quickly the car can charge. For home charging, 11 kW is most common. For fast charging, the charging capacity for most modern electric cars is between 100 and 150 kW. However, some models can handle significantly more.

Charging stress is the opposite of range anxiety – instead of worrying about the battery not being enough, it's about the car charging so quickly that the driver barely has time to finish their coffee or meal before it's time to drive on.

PHEV: Stands for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle and means that the car is a plug-in hybrid.

Regenerative braking: A way for the car to reuse and charge the battery with the kinetic energy created during braking, which would otherwise be lost.

Range: The range of an electric car is how far you can go on a charge. It is not always that you go the same distance every time, but many factors affect the actual range of a car. Such as the weight of the car, weather conditions and surface. But also your own driving style. Since these factors change depending on different circumstances, the range also varies.

Range anxiety: A joking expression, but a very real concern and stress for many who describe the feeling of great anxiety about the battery running out before they can reach the next charging station.

Fast charger: You can usually find them along the roads and charge up to 80% in 20-60 minutes depending on which car you have, what temperature outside and available power. This type of charging is a DC charge, which

Supercharger: Tesla's own term for their own charging stations with fast chargers.

State of Health: Also called battery health (see above).

TCO: Stands for Total Cost of Ownership and is a way of breaking down the cost of owning a car on a monthly basis. This includes things like purchase price, insurance,

Type 2 charger: A Type 2 charger is the most common connector for AC charging of electric cars in Europe. It is used both for home charging and public charging stations and can handle up to 22 kW. Torque vectoring: I don't think that term fits here

Peak charge: The maximum charge rate the car can receive, often during the initial phase of charging when the battery is relatively empty.

Heat pump: An electric car misses the excess heat that helps to heat the cabin in a fossil-fueled car. The heat in the electric car is therefore generated by electricity. One way to then help the heat to spread in the cabin in an energy-efficient way, and reduce energy use, is a heat pump. It works in a similar way to the air heat pump in a house.

WLTP: The abbreviation stands for Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure and is an EU standard for how to test the range of electric vehicles in Europe. According to this standard, the range is measured at an average speed of 46.5 km/h at a summer temperature of 23 degrees, from full charge to empty battery.

Wallbox: A wallbox is a wall-mounted charging station for electric cars, often installed at home or at work. It provides faster and safer charging than a regular power outlet.

1: 11 kW charging: 11 kW charging is a common level for AC charging of electric cars, often via a wallbox or public charging stations. It provides a faster charge than standard household sockets and can fill a standard electric car battery to a practical level for daily use in a few hours.

2: 22 kW charging: Some electric car models can handle 22 kW when charging with AC. However, this also requires that the charging box can handle this power,