Battery electric propulsion

A battery electric vehicle (BEV), battery-only electric vehicle (BOEV) or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of internal combustion engines (ICEs) for propulsion. They derive all power from battery packs and thus have no internal combustion engine, fuel cell, or fuel tank. BEVs include bicycles, scooters, skateboards, rail cars, watercraft, forklifts, buses, trucks and cars.

Cumulative global sales of highway-capable light-duty pure electric vehicles passed the one million unit milestone in September 2016. As of December 2016^[update], the world's top selling highway legal all-electric car in history is the Nissan Leaf with global sales of over 250,000 units, followed by the Tesla Model S with more than 158,000 units delivered worldwide.

Vehicles using both electric motors and internal combustion engines are examples of hybrid electric vehicles, and are not considered pure or all-electric vehicles because they cannot be externally charged (operate in charge-sustaining mode) and instead they are continually recharged with power from the internal combustion engine and regenerative braking.

Hybrid vehicles with batteries that can be charged externally to displace some or all of their internal combustion engine power and gasoline fuel are called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and run as BEVs during their charge-depleting mode. PHEVs with a series powertrain are also called range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs), such as the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma.

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