Extended-range hybrid electric cars are a new breed of electric cars that differ from traditional hybrid electric cars, which run a powertrain with both electric power and gasoline. The extended-range model powers an engine entirely from battery power, and then when the battery runs dry it uses a gas-powered motor to recharge the battery and extend the range of the car. If drivers limit their driving habits, the car essentially behaves like a battery-powered electric car.
“We really feel like the plug-in hybrid is going to be the most popular for the widest variety of customers,” Ford technology communications manager Alan Hall told VentureBeat. “Hybrids today have been very successful with customers because you don’t have the range anxiety that might come from owning a battery-powered electric car.”
Ford isn’t the only company that expects the plug-in hybrid to win out. Clean technology research firm Pike Research expects 754,000 extended-range hybrid electric vehicles to hit the road by 2017, compared to around 504,000 battery-electric vehicles. It’s around a three-to-two ratio, which should continue for the foreseeable future in the United States, Pike Research analyst John Gartner told VentureBeat..
For more: Extended-range hybrids pick up steam | VentureBeat
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