Does a “hybrid” count as an “electric car”?
...the terminology becomes quite baffling...
What ever happened to “regenerative braking”?
Is that still around?
Yea, unfortunately the terminology is not very straightforward. (I took a public speaking / presentation class once. For my five minute “final exam” presentation, I explained the differences to my classmates. So yea, I enjoy talking about this stuff.)
You can think of cars as existing on a spectrum with gasoline cars on one end and pure electric cars on the other. In the middle are hybrids which combine a gasoline powertrain with an electric powertrain. Hybrid can further be separated into regular hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
The Prius is a regular hybrid, but since you can't plug its battery into your wall socket, it can only be charged by its gasoline engine. The Chevy Volt, and the Ford Fusion Energi that Dagnabitt mentioned, are plug-in hybrids. You can plug them in every night and wake up the next morning with a full battery. The Volt's battery will give you 40 miles of range for the day and the Fusion Energi will give you 20. If you drive past the electric range in a plug-in hybrid it automatically switches to gasoline. However, for a regular hybrid, like a Prius, it switches back and forth between gasoline and electricity from the get-go depending on how fast you are driving.
Regenerative braking is standard in all the cars I just described, except of course for plain old gasoline cars.
What defines an electric car is contentious even among electric car enthusiasts like myself. Some say that if it uses gasoline at all then it is not a “true” electric car. I say that if you can do all your daily driving using electricity, like you can with the Volt, and only use gasoline when you go visit grandma, then it is an electric car for all intents and purposes. People who agree with me call the Volt an “EREV,” or Extended Range Electric Vehicle. People who disagree with me call it a “PHEV,” or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.
To-ma-to, To-mah-to.