EV Terminology, Acronyms, and Glossary

B

brianc35

Administrator
EV ownership is full of acronyms and terms that can discourage new or prospective owners from making the jump from ICE into an EV. This list will give you a leg up on learning about the cars, how they operate, and help define common phrases used on the forums.

EV Acronyms​

1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z​

1​

A​

  • AC​

    • Alternating Current

B​

  • Battery Chemistry​

  • BEV​

    • Battery Electric Vehicle

  • Bi-Directional Charging​

    • Allows your EV to power other items and connect via the charge port.
    • see also V2L, V2G, and V2H

  • BMS​

    • Battery Management System
    • Used to control charge and discharge to the battery to protect it and balance the cells

C​

  • CCS​

    • Combined Charging System
    • Offering a standard J1772 plug with 2 additional DC connection points to enable Level 3 fast DC charging
    • Often called the SAE Combo
    • CCS Type 1 - more common in the North America and Japan
    • CCS Type 2 - more common in Europe and Australia
    • Both CCS Type 1 and CCS Type 2 connectors are designed to be backwards compatible with their respective AC charging connectors.
      • CCS Type 1 EVs can charge at both CCS Type 1 and J1772 stations
      • CCS Type 2 EVs can charge at both CCS Type 2 and Mennekes Type 2 stations.
      • EVs with only a J1772 or Type 2 connector cannot use the DC rapid capability of CCS1 or CCS2 stations, respectively.

  • CHAdeMO​

    • Level 3 charging port
    • Bi-directional for V2G connectivity

  • Charging Levels​

    • Level 1 - Generally 120 AC
      • Standard home outlet, 5-10 miles per hour of charge (varies by model)
      • 1.3-2.4 kW
    • Level 2 - Generally 240 AC
      • Most home EV charging systems provide this level, and offer about 30 miles of range per hour (varies by model)
      • 3-20 kW
    • Level 3 - DC, Voltage Varies
      • 100-200 miles range per hour charge (varies by model and amp)
      • 50-350 kW

  • Control Pilot​

    • The Control Pilot (abbreviated as CP or EVCP) signal enables basic communication between the EVSE (charger) and EV (electrical vehicle). This is a standard defined in IEC standard 61851-1
    • This signal is a pulse width that sends information about max charge rates to the EV and signals like charge complete back to the EVSE.
    • There are 6 main statuses:
      • A - EV Disconnected - +12V signal
      • B - EV Connected - +9V signal
      • C - EV Charging - +6V signal
      • D - EV Charge, Ventilation Required - +3V signal
      • E - Error Condition - 0V signal
      • F - Fault Condition - -12V signal

D​

  • DC​

    • Direct Current

E​

  • EV​

    • Electric Vehicle

  • EVSE​

    • Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
    • This is your charging equipment, cables, etc

F​

  • FCEV​

    • Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle
    • Generally powered by hydrogen fuel cells to produce electricity for the electric motor(s)

G​

  • GBT​

    • Charger connection type mostly found in China and Eastern Europe

  • GoM​

    • Guess o Meter
    • Estimate of range left based on historic driving patterns and various sensor readings

H​

  • HEV​

    • Hybrid Electric Vehicle
    • A Vehicle that usually has a gasoline engine and an electric motor, but lacks plugin charging and relies mostly on regenerative braking the charge a small battery bank

I​

  • ICE​

    • Internal Combustion Engine

J​

K​

  • kW​

    • Kilowatt - 1000 Watts

  • kWh​

    • Kilowatt-hour

L​

M​

  • Mennekes Type 2​

    • Common European Charger connector type
    • see CCS Type 2 for Fast Charge

  • MPGe​

    • Miles per Gallon Equivalent
    • Used to measure efficiency in comparison to an ICE vehicle. 1 Gallon of gasoline is 33.7 kW

N​

  • NACS​

    • Level 3 charging port, Tesla proprietary but they have opened up the technology to other makes to leverage the port and network of chargers in recent years.
    • J34002 standard

  • NMC​

  • NMCA​

O​

  • One Pedal Driving​

    • Some EVs have a setting to allow the accelerator pedal control both acceleration and deceleration by leveraging regen braking when the throttle is reduced
    • Sometimes abbreviated as 1PD

P​

  • Pb​

  • PHEV​

    • Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

  • Plug Type​

  • Proximity Pilot​

    • A safety feature in EV charging that prevents the car from being driven while the charging cable is connected and confirms a proper connection before charging begins
    • Controls a 'soft' shut down to reduce the chance of electric shock or short circuits when disconnecting cables

Q​

R​

  • Range​

    • How far you are able to travel on the available energy in the battery and average MPGe

  • REEV​

    • Range Extended Electric Vehicle
    • These vehicles tend to have a 'generator' engine running on gasoline or diesel fuel which charges the battery bank to run the electric motor(s)

S​

  • SAE Combo​

  • SOC​

    • State of Charge
    • The battery's fullness from 0 to 100 (where 0 is empty/dead and 100 is full capacity)

  • SSB​

    • Solid State Battery

T​

U​

V​

  • V2G​

    • Vehicle to Grid
    • Allows your battery to communicate with the power company to control charge rates
    • see also: Bi-Directional Charging

  • V2H​

    • Vehicle to Home
    • Allows your car battery to act as a home battery back up system to power your home in a power outage
    • see also: Bi-Directional Charging

  • V2L​

    • Vehicle to Load
    • Allows your car battery to power electronics directly via invertor to AC 120 or can sometimes be used to power/charge another EV directly
    • see also: Bi-Directional Charging

  • Vampire Drain​

    • The loss of range when sitting/parked, usually a percent or two a day

Y​

X​

Y​

Z​


1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z​
 
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This is a work in progress. Open to feedback/errata/additions/etc.

I've made all of the main headings bookmark-linkable so that you can direct link to a term in threads.
The title becomes the thread title, not the bookmark unfortunately, but you can over-ride it with the
1764879411713.webp
link editor or edit link tool
1764879434697.webp





eg, EV Terminology, Acronyms, and Glossary by default,
change to SAE Combo
 
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"Range" needs a more complete definition.

"GOM" could start the "G"s

In V2G, change "co" to "to"--but isn't it really the ability of the power company to take power back from your EV when needed?
 
Control pilot, proximity pilot, CCS types 1 and 2, NACS is currently J3400 SAE standard officially designated.
Some common charging term additions, maybe include some Wiki links.

Expansion on the difference between kW and kWh ( ie kWh measure energy usage over time and kW a unit of the rate at which energy can be used or delivered) - a common mistake EV novices tend to confuse.;)
 
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