What's the Buzz?

There are two commonly available electric vehicle designs for automobiles: Battery Electric Vehicles or BEVs, which convert chemical energy to electrical energy in batteries; and Hybrid vehicles, which convert chemical energy to electrical energy via an internal combustion engine and a generator. A third, less established form, is the 'plug-in hybrid' which attempts to combine the benefits of both these designs. It allows the moderate capacity batteries of a hybrid vehicle to be recharged not only from the internal combustion engine and generator, but alternatively from an external source of electricity (such as a domestic electricity supply).

Light EVs include electric wheelchairs, the Segway HT, electric motorcycles and scooters, motorized bicycles, golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles. Working electric vehicles include heavy work equipment, fork lifts, and numerous other service and support vehicles. Strictly technology-proving experimental or solar powered vehicles include sun racers, electrathons, the aerial Helios Prototype, and some rocket propulsion systems such as the ion thruster.