Types of Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles have become more and more popular over the last several years, and they’ll only continue to become even more popular among St Louis drivers. If you’re thinking about going electric, then you might be wondering, “How many types of electric vehicles are there?” There’s more than one, and BMW of West St Louis would love to show you the different types of electric vehicles, so you can get an idea of which option would be best for you. Then, we invite you to explore our BMW electric inventory for a test drive of any model that catches your eye!

What Are the Different Types of Electric Vehicles?

As mentioned earlier, there’s more than one type of electric vehicle. How many types of electric vehicles are there? There are four main types of electric vehicles, and here are there distinctions:

• Hybrid Electric Vehicles: This type of electric vehicle combines gasoline and electric power. A hybrid vehicle has a self-charging electric motor that offers a specific amount of electric driving range. After you’ve used up all the electric range, the gasoline-powered engine will then take over as your source of fuel. You’ll want to make sure that you always have at least a little bit of gas in the tank when you drive a hybrid electric vehicle.
• Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles: These are very similar to hybrid electric vehicles, except their main difference is that they come with a larger and more powerful electric battery and motor. This motor offers more electric driving range, but it doesn’t self charge from the gasoline-powered engine. You’ll have to plug in this kind of hybrid vehicle into a charging station near Ballwin in order to charge the electric battery.
• Battery Electric Vehicles: These types of electric vehicles run solely on electric power and are powered by a large motor or several electric motors as well as a battery. The advantage that these kinds of vehicles have over hybrid vehicles is that they don’t require any gasoline fuel at all and only need to be plugged in in order to be recharged.
• Hydrogen Electric Vehicles (Fuel Cell): These kinds of electric vehicles are the least common option since they’re more expensive, and there aren’t as many of these kinds of options available.

Learn more about hybrid vs. electric vehicles and the different types in more detail at BMW of West St Louis.

Important Parts in Electric Vehicles

The major differences between the types of electric vehicles mentioned above are how they function and their main components. To give you an idea of what distinguishes each electric vehicle even further, here are some of the main components of each electric vehicle type:

Hybrid Electric Vehicles

• Battery pack with controller & inverter
• Fuel tank
• Control module
• Engine
• Electric motor

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

• Electric motor
• Fuel tank
• Control module
• Battery Charger
• Engine
• Inverter
• Battery

Battery Electric Vehicles

• Battery
• Control Module
• Drive train
• Electric motor
• Inverter

Hydrogen Electric Vehicles (Fuel Cell)

• Electric motor
• Hydrogen storage tank
• Battery with converter and controller
• Fuel-cell stack

Now that you know how many types of electric vehicles there are, take a test drive of any BMW electric model in our inventory near Ladue to see which option is best for you.

Choose Your Electric Vehicle in Manchester!

Contact us to see which type of electric vehicle is the best fit for you. For any other questions you have along the way, don’t hesitate to ask anyone one our team!