Hybrid electric vehicle in the context of "Motor vehicle"

Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was a German-Czech automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, and several other important developments and Porsche automobiles.

An important contributor to the German war effort during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 45.01 (P), the Elefant (initially called "Ferdinand") self-propelled gun, and the Panzer VIII Maus super-heavy tank, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the Nazi Party and an honorary Oberführer of the Allgemeine SS. He was a recipient of the German National Prize for Art and Science, the SS-Ehrenring and the War Merit Cross.

Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the book-packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate, as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels. Over the decades, the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. Beginning in 1959, the books were extensively revised and shortened, partly to lower the printing costs, with arguable success. In the revision process, the heroine's original character was changed to be less unruly and violent. In the 1980s, an older and more professional Nancy emerged in a new series, The Nancy Drew Files, that included romantic subplots for the sleuth. Launched in 2004, the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series features Nancy driving a hybrid electric vehicle and using a cell phone. In 2012, the Girl Detective series ended, and a new series, Nancy Drew Diaries, was launched in 2013. Illustrations of the character evolved over time to reflect contemporary styles.

The Nancy Drew franchise has been adapted into other forms of media with varied success. As of April 2020, the character has been adapted into six feature films, three television series, four television pilots, 34 video games produced by the brand HeR Interactive, and two comic-book series. Film and television adaptations of the character have been met with mixed reviews, and the video games by HeR Interactive have often been lauded. The character proves continuously popular worldwide; at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and the books have been translated into over 45 languages.

A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such as airplanes or helicopters), does not float on water (such as boats or ships), and is used for the transportation of people or cargo.

The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually a gasoline/diesel internal combustion engine or an electric traction motor, or some combination of the two as in hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. For legal purpose, motor vehicles are often identified within a number of vehicle classes including cars, buses, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, light trucks and regular trucks. These classifications vary according to the legal codes of each country. ISO 3833:1977 is the standard for road vehicle types, terms and definitions. Typically, to avoid requiring people with disabilities from having to possess an operator's license to use one, or requiring tags and insurance, powered wheelchairs will be specifically excluded by law from being considered motor vehicles.

Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy or potential energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed.

Typically, regenerative brakes work by driving an electric motor in reverse to recapture energy that would otherwise be lost as heat during braking, effectively turning the traction motor into a generator. Feeding power backwards through the system like this allows the energy harvested from deceleration to resupply an energy storage solution such as a battery or a capacitor. Once stored, this power can then be later used to aid forward propulsion. Because of the electrified vehicle architecture required for such a braking system, automotive regenerative brakes are most commonly found on hybrid and electric vehicles.

Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power, and can come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but switch between an electric motor and a combustion engine.

A typical powertrain includes all of the components used to transform stored potential energy. Powertrains may either use chemical, solar, nuclear or kinetic energy for propulsion. The oldest example is the steam locomotive. Modern examples include electric bicycles and hybrid electric vehicles, which generally combine a battery (or supercapacitor) supplemented by an internal combustion engine (ICE) that can either recharge the batteries or power the vehicle. Other hybrid powertrains can use flywheels to store energy.

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be directly replenished via a charging cable plugged into an external electric power source, in addition to charging internally by its on-board internal combustion engine–powered generator. While PHEVs are predominantly passenger cars, there are also plug-in hybrid variants of sports cars, commercial vehicles, vans, utility trucks, buses, trains, motorcycles, mopeds, military vehicles and boats.

Similar to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids can use centralized generators of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind or hydroelectric) to be largely emission-free, or a fossil plant in which case they displace greenhouse gas emissions from the car tailpipe exhaust to the power station. As opposed to conventional hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), PHEVs generally have a larger battery pack that can be recharged (theoretically) from anywhere with access to the electrical grid, offering enhanced energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness when compared to relying solely on the on-board generator. Additionally, PHEVs can support longer and more frequent all-electric range driving, and their electric motors often have higher power output and torque, are more responsive in acceleration, and overall have lower operating costs. Although a PHEV's battery pack is smaller than that of all-electric vehicles of the same weight, as it must accommodate its combustion engine and hybrid drivetrain, it provides the added flexibility of reverting to the use of its gasoline/diesel engine, akin to a conventional HEV if the battery charge is depleted. This feature helps alleviate range anxiety, particularly in areas lacking sufficient charging infrastructure.

A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses electrical energy exclusively from an on-board battery pack to power one or more electric traction motors, on which the vehicle solely relies for propulsion.

This definition excludes hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs; including mild, full and plug-in hybrids), which use internal combustion engines (ICEs) in adjunct to electric motors for propulsion; and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs), which consume fuel through a fuel cell or an ICE-driven generator to produce electricity needed for the electric motors. BEVs have no fuel tanks and replenish their energy storage by plugging into a charging station, electrical grid or getting a new battery at a battery swap station, and use motor controllers to modulate the output engine power and torque, thus eliminating the need for clutches, transmissions and sophisticated engine cooling as seen in conventional ICE vehicles. BEVs include – but are not limited to – all battery-driven electric cars, buses, trucks, forklifts, motorcycles and scooters, bicycles, skateboards, railcars, boat and personal watercraft, although in common usage the term usually refers specifically to passenger cars.