Hybrid Car Glossary

Protect the carpet from dirt and moisture by adding all weather floor mats to your car. These are typically made with ridges to trap mud, dirt, sand and water and keep them away from the carpet.
B20, B100:
Seen at diesel pumps, these designations indicate the amount of biodiesel blended with petroleum-based diesel. So B20 is 20% biodiesel, 80% low-sulfur diesel, while B100 is 100% biodiesel.
Backup Sensor
Backup sensors can be audible or visual and help eliminate the risk of hitting or running over things.

BEV - Battery Electric Vehicle
A battery-electric vehicles uses an electric motor for power source. The electricity powering the motor is stored in a battery pack that must be recharged from an electric power source.

Biodiesel
Diesel fuel made at least partly from non-petroleum sources, such as used restaurant grease. Most diesel-powered vehicles can use biodiesel without conversion or alteration of the engine.

Bioethanol
A vehicle fuel based on starchy plant materials, commonly corn in the U.S. It has a lower emissions rating than petroleum. Also known as ethanol.

Bumper Guards
Protect your bumpers with bumper guards. Bumpers can get banged up when you're loading and unloading your trunk. Protect your bumper from nicks and scratches.

By-Wire Technology
Similarly to "Fly-by-Wire" technology found in fighter planes, hybrid car "Drive-by-Wire" technology replaces mechanical connections with electrical connections to reduce weight and provide more sophisticated and reliable responsiveness.

CAFE Standards
Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Each automaker must average the mileage of every vehicle it builds. The standards were enacted in 1975 to increase overall fuel efficiency. The standard for 2009 is 27.5 mpg for cars, 20.7 mpg for light trucks, and 23.1 mpg for trucks under 8500 pounds.

Cargo Net
A cargo net helps keep your groceries and other items from rolling around in the trunk. They are typically very easy to install. You'll wonder how you ever lived without one!

CBG - Cleaner Burning Gasoline
Cleaner-burning gasoline is fuel that meets requirements established by the California Air Resources Board (ARB). All gasoline sold in California for use in motor vehicles must meet these requirements, which have been in effect since Spring 1996.

Chassis Stiffener
A chassis stiffener bolts on to the subframe to make the unibody stiffer. Your car will feel more stable an will turn sharper and be more responsive.

Diesel
This petroleum-based fuel gets higher fuel efficiency than gasoline. It used to have more tailpipe emissions, but technological innovations in the past decade have nearly erased this concern and dropped diesel emissions to near gasoline levels.

E85
A fuel blend that contains 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline.

Engine Block Heater
Engine block heaters let you start your car quicker in freezing weather. This saves fuel and battery power for your hybrid cars.

EPA
Environmental Protection Agency. Together with the Department of Energy, the EPA issues mileage and emissions ratings for all cars sold in the U.S. See FuelEconomy.gov.

Extended Range Electric Vehicle
A type of PHEV where the car drives entirely on electric power, but there is a small gasoline engine on board that runs a generator to provide electricity for the batteries and electric motor. The addition of the gasoline engine allows the electric motor to go further on a charge.

Ethanol
A high-octane, low-emissions fuel long used in racing. Now it’s made from renewable plant materials and can be used in regular vehicles, though it gets lower fuel economy ratings than gasoline.

EV
Electric Vehicle. These cars have only batteries and an electric motor–no gasoline or other fuel required, and no emissions are released into the air. They are refueled by plugging the batteries into an outlet.

Electric-Only Mode
Also known as Stealth Mode. In full hybrid cars, electric-only mode allows the vehicle to drive at low speeds without the engine turning on.

EV Mode
An EV mode switch lets you run your Prius in electric only mode up to 34 mph to increase your hybrid mpg and performance. While this option is built into every Prius, it is disabled for North American hybrids. An EV Mode Option lets you turn this option back on.

Flex Fuel
A vehicle that can accept regular gasoline or an ethanol blend, such as E85.

FCEV - Fuel Cell Vehicle
A fuel cell vehicle is an electric vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel instead of a battery to produce electricity. There are no moving parts, as the fuel cell utilizes a catalyst to perform a chemical process that combines oxygen from the air with hydrogen fuel to produce electricity.

Fuel Efficiency
Using the least amount of fuel to drive the farthest number of miles. This can be measured miles per gallon, which is standard in the U.S., or in gallons per mile, which is more common in the rest of the world.

Gas Mileage Devices
There are a variety of gas mileage devices on the market. Popular items include the EV Mode Option, the Kiwi dashboard plug-in which teaches you how to drive more efficiently, and Juiced Hybrid’s custom Voltage System GT, which stabilizes the voltage in your car.

Green Car Cleaners
From car wax to green towels, various green car cleaners and supplies help you keep your ride looking good while still being environmentally friendly.

Hybrid Car
A hybrid car refers to a vehicle that has two sources of power: gasoline and electricity. Today's hybrids combine a gasoline engine with one or more electric motors (and a traction battery pack). In the automotive sense, this is a vehicle that has a gasoline-powered engine and an electric engine that work together to deliver better gas mileage, usually 40+ mpg. The batteries are recharged by systems like regenerative braking. The 1999 Honda Insight was the first commercially available hybrid; the Toyota Prius became the first popular hybrid car.

Hybrid Car battery
There are two batteries on hybrid vehicles, the traction battery and the auxiliary 12-volt battery, which powers accessories and the car's computer.

Hybrid Car Engine
In hybrid cars, engine refers to the gasoline combustion engine, not the electric motor.

Hybrid Synergy Drive
Toyota's next generation hybrid powertrain, improving upon the Toyota Hybrid System in the original Prius.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell
These cells use hydrogen gas and air to create an electrical current to power a vehicle, with only water as a byproduct. Creating an infrastructure of hydrogen fueling stations has been an obstacle to the manufacture of hydrogen-powered cars.

ICE
Internal Combustion Engine. The same old gasoline-powered engine we’ve been driving all our lives.

Liquified Natural Gas
Natural gas that has been cooled to form a transportable liquid. Vehicles that run on LNG cannot use any other type of fuel without major modifications.

Lithium Ion
A type of battery used in cell phones, laptops, and electric cars. These batteries store a lot of energy for their weight.

Low-Emission Level Standards
There are several measurement standards for low-emission cars, including California Air Resources Board standards known as LEV II, Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) and Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) standards. There is also a Federal standard called Tier 2-Bin 3.

LNG
Liquified Natural Gas. See above.

MPG
Miles per gallon. The number of miles a car can travel on one gallon of gasoline or other liquid fuel.

NHTSA
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA administrates the CAFE Standards, based on fuel efficiency data from the EPA.

NiCd
Nickel Cadmium sometimes called NiCad. A type of rechargeable battery used in electric cars.

NiMH
Nickel Metal Hydride. A type of rechargeable battery used in electric cars.

PHEV
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. See Plug-in Hybrid.

Plug-in Hybrid
A vehicle that has a gasoline-powered engine and a bank of batteries that can be recharged by plugging them into an outlet. These vehicles usually use the electric motor for 40 or so miles, then the gasoline engine as a backup. The supposedly forthcoming Chevy Volt is a PHEV.

Receiver Drop Hitch
Alternately called trailer hitches, a receiver drop hitch lets you tow trailers with your car.

Regenerative braking
Regenerative braking is a feature in hybrid cars that allows the motor to act as a generator when braking. The process converts kinetic energy of the car's motion into electric energy that recharges the battery.

Vehicle to Grid
Technology that allows electric utility companies to reclaim small amounts of energy from plugged-in EVs. Boulder, Colorado, has a pioneering VtG program.

Water Car
Proponents of the idea of running a car on water say it’s a similar energy conversion process to hydrogen fuel cells. The conversion of energy, though, seems to lose a lot along the way, making any benefit null.

Window Deflectors
Add window deflectors to reduce wind noise while still allowing fresh air to come into your car.

By: Sarah Collins

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Jon Belinkie, PHD is author of this article on Car Expert On Prius. Find more information about Hybrid Car Glossary here.