If you’re shopping for prices for a new electric auto battery on the internet, the bot is bound to ask you some questions. The store may have both electric vehicle and hybrid battery departments, but only one of these will have what you want. We review the main differences between these two types of batteries, to help you understand your purchase better.
Overlaps Between Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Car Batteries
All battery-electric, and battery-hybrid vehicles use high-voltage and low-voltage batteries. The powerful primary ones drive the electric motors, while the smaller, auxiliary ones take care of the accessories. Each of these batteries contains a number of individual cells combining their power.
Owners routinely recharge their electric vehicle and hybrid battery vehicles by plugging them into electric outlets. These may be at home, at their place of business, or a commercial charging station. But they can also top them up while driving, using the power of regenerative braking.
Regenerative braking captures kinetic energy while braking, and transforms it into electricity that goes back into the battery. Unfortunately the actual benefit is slight, and so there is no point in ‘forcing’ regenerative braking while driving. Still, every little bit helps.
Where Plug-In and Fully Electric Vehicles are Different
Fully-electric vehicles rely on their batteries as their sole source of automotive power. Whereas hybrid-electric ones only use their primary batteries for short trips. Therefore, it follows that the batteries for the former are much more powerful than the latter.
This increased power comes at a cost, including the weight and bulk of the primary batteries. We express their capacity in terms of kilowatt hours, analogous to the gallons of gasoline in a fuel tank.
Street-wise electric vehicle and hybrid battery vehicle owners understand they have an important role in preserving their battery lives. This includes avoiding fast-charging wherever they can, and maintaining between 20% to 80% battery charge.
More Information
Battery Plus Two Axial Motors = Hybrid EV