Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) is a U.S. denomination for battery electric vehicles that are usually built to have a top speed of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), and have a maximum loaded weight of 3,000 lb (1,400 kg). Depending on the particular laws of the state, they are legally limited to roads with posted speed limits of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) or less. NEVs fall under the United States Department of Transportation classification for low-speed vehicles. The non-electric version of the neighbourhood electric vehicle is the Motorised quadricycle.

A NEV battery pack recharges by plugging into a standard outlet and because it is an all-electric vehicle it does not produce tailpipe emissions. If recharged from clean energy sources such as solar or wind power, NEVs do not produce greenhouse gas emissions. In the state of California NEVs are classified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as zero emissions vehicles (ZEV) and are eligible for a purchase rebate of up to $1,500 if purchased or leased on or after March 15, 2010.

As of June 2014^[update], the GEM neighborhood electric vehicle was the market leader in North America, with global sales of more than 50,000 units since 1998. Another top selling NEV is the Renault Twizy, launched in March 2012, it was the top-selling plug-in electric vehicle in Europe during 2012, and the heavy quadricycle has sold almost 18,000 units through June 2016. Sales of low-speed small electric cars experienced considerable growth in China between 2012 and 2015 due to their affordability and flexibility. A total of 200,000 low-speed small electric cars were sold in China in 2013, most of which are powered by lead-acid batteries. In 2015, sales of low-speed small electric passenger vehicles in China totaled more than 600,000 units, and over 700,000 during the first ten months of 2016.

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