Reader, hybrid, hydrogen: understand the differences

** The duration and distance values ​​mentioned here are calculated from the results obtained by new ZOE during the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Procedure, Standardized Cycle: 57 % Urban Trades, 25 % of trips, peri-urban, 18 % of journeys on the highway), which aims to represent the real conditions of use of vehicles. However, they do not presume the type of journey chosen after recharging. The recharging time and the recovered autonomy also depend on the temperature, the wear of the battery, the power delivered by the terminal, the driving style and the level of charge level.

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Electric, hybrid, hydrogen: understand the differences

With the advent of zero -emission vehicles for use, we now hear regularly talking about electric car, hybrid engine or hydrogen car. What exactly these notions cover and how to find it ? follow the leader.

If for a long time, the question of motorization has summed up to choose between petrol and diesel, it is now necessary to deal with a technology that changes the situation: the electric motor. Sometimes it completely supplants its elder, the venerable internal combustion engine: we then speak of electric car. In other cases, the two technologies coexist within the same vehicle: it is the hybrid model, with different levels of possible interactions, depending on the recharge modes and energy storage Scheduled by the manufacturer.

What differences between hybrid and electric vehicles ?

Let us first dwell on the differences in use. The electric car is completely silent, odorless and with a very fluid and pleasant driving. On the cost side, that of maintenance and “fuel” is reduced, since electrical energy is much cheaper than petrol or diesel. On the autonomy side, important innovations have taken place. While still 10 years ago, we just reached 150 kilometers of autonomy, we can now drive up to 300 km before having to recharge a new Renault Zoe. And recharging is becoming faster and faster: still with the new Renault Zoe, 30 minutes are enough to leave for 120 km ** on certain terminals.

Hybrid cars, They have a little greater autonomy than a traditional combustion car because they are petrol or diesel vehicles to which one or two electric batteries have been added. The electric relieves fuel consumption (up to 40 % of petrol used in town). When the car is powered by the electric motor, driving comfort and silence are identical to those experienced in an electric car. When the combustion engine takes the machine, the sensation when driving is similar to that aboard a traditional vehicle.

What about the technical functioning of these models ? Is the optimization of energy consumption identical ? Under the hood, what are the differences between electric, hybrid, hydrogen ?

100 % electric car: the most successful

The electric car currently represents the immediately most successful and affordable available solution to meet environmental challenges related to global warming and air pollution. What changes ? The engine exploded, the fuel hatch and the exhaust pot disappear in favor of an electric motor powered by a battery. The car recharges on a terminal, installed at home, in the parking lot of its workplace or in public places. Capable of offering a autonomy Of several hundred kilometers, it works in silence, does not consume energy when stopped and do not reject any gas. Added to it the pleasure of driving. With the new Renault Zoe for example, the electric motor instantly delivers all the torque it has, to offer immediate and fluid acceleration. Due to the absence of combustion and mechanical moving parts, the electric motor offers exceptional reliability. For the driver, this is the guarantee of an interview reduced to his strictest expression.

There are, however, other options. You can choose to make an energy mix with a vehicle combining electric propulsion and combustion engine. Panorama of these variants, from “less” to electric “plus”.

Hybrid car: a traditional electrical assistance vehicle

Aboard a hybrid car, there is both a petrol (or diesel) engine and an electric block programmed to work together. The principle is as follows: the electric motor occurs in reinforcement of combustion so as to reduce demand on it and therefore fuel consumption. How then recharges a hybrid car ? It is during braking or decelerations that the small on -board battery recharges, by converting the speed into energy. However, the hybrid car remains mainly dependent on fossil fuels: the 100 % electric travel rarely exceeds a few kilometers.

Rechargeable hybrid car: the real transition

Rechargeable hybrid cars, sometimes designated under the acronym Phev, for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, aims to overcome this shortcoming. This is the case with the new Renault Captur E-Tech Plug-in. The principle ? We integrate a larger capacity battery in the chassis as well as a socket allowing independent recharge via a domestic outlet or a charging station. In this way, the electric motor becomes a real alternative to the combustion engine for most daily trips. Even if the thermal traction remains available for long distances of the start on vacation. The difference between hybrid car and rechargeable hybrid car is therefore that only the second recharges on a socket, allowing much more important electricity and autonomy.

Hybrid vehicle with a range of autonomy: a generator in your car

Another variant is to use electric engine and battery for traction and add a small petrol engine dedicated to recharge: we then speak of Electric car with autonomy extension. The hybrid changes here closer to 100 % electric than 100 % combustion engine: electricity is the main “fuel”. In this context, we have a battery of sufficient capacity and the possibility of charging on a terminal. The car is capable of driving daily in electric, without exhaust gas emissions. The combustion engine only comes in support, in an inspired operating mode of the generator. It is only there to extend the autonomy by recharging the battery, but is not used to directly train the wheels (unlike the operation of traditional hybrid cars and rechargeable hybrid cars).

Hydrogen car: the challenger

There is finally a 100 % electric car in alternative power supply mode: the hydrogen electric car. Renault will soon offer Two utility vehicles powered by hydrogen : Kangoo Z.E Hydrogen and the Master Z.E HYDROGEN. Today, most electric cars use batteries based on lithium-ion technology, but there are other tracks to store energy. There hydrogen battery Allows for example to generate electricity from the gas of the same name, obtained by breaking down water or methane. Inside this battery, the gas is converted into electricity thanks to a chemical reaction with the oxygen contained in the ambient air. It is powered by a tank containing gas stored at very high pressure (several hundred bars). Some obstacles remain. The manufacture of fuel cells, for example, involves rare metals as well as a source of energy, possibly renewable. Large -scale deployment also involves setting up infrastructure dedicated to the production and distribution of hydrogen.

Electric vehicle, hybrid … continuous innovation

From the Nickel Cadmium batteries, the electric has made immense progress. Modern accumulators no longer have to be ashamed of comparison with petrol vehicles. Hidden inside the chassis, the lithium-ion batteries are safe and treated at the end of life by increasingly efficient recycling sectors. They gain lightness, compactness and capacity, which increases the radius of action of the cars that embark them. And continuous technical progress: researchers from the University of Pennsylvania discovered in 2019 a new method allowing to load in 10 minutes an autonomy of 300 kilometers on an electric vehicle. Technology supports up to 2,500 load cycles, the equivalent of 800,000 kilometers. The dynamic without contact is another, also promising track: with it, which is based on induction technology, it would be enough to drive to recharge its battery. The electric car will become essential !

* Zero emissions to use: neither CO2 emissions nor atmospheric pollutants regulated during driving, in accordance with the WLTP approval cycle, excluding wear parts.

** The duration and distance values ​​mentioned here are calculated from the results obtained by new ZOE during the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Procedure, Standardized Cycle: 57 % Urban Trades, 25 % of trips, peri-urban, 18 % of journeys on the highway), which aims to represent the real conditions of use of vehicles. However, they do not presume the type of journey chosen after recharging. The recharging time and the recovered autonomy also depend on the temperature, the wear of the battery, the power delivered by the terminal, the driving style and the level of charge level.

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