Plain-English EV terms.
Filter to find a term.
BEV
Battery-electric vehicle. Runs only on battery power.
PHEV
Plug-in hybrid. Has a battery and a gas engine.
kWh
Kilowatt-hour, the unit of energy you pay for and that batteries store.
kWh/100 km
How much energy the car uses to drive 100 km. Lower is more efficient.
Level 1
Charging from a 120 V household outlet.
Level 2
Charging from a 208/240 V circuit; the usual home charger.
DC fast charging (Level 3)
High-power public charging, such as Superchargers.
NACS
North American Charging Standard, the Tesla-style connector.
J1772
The standard Level 1/2 connector on many non-Tesla chargers; needs an adapter for Tesla.
Preconditioning
Warming or cooling the cabin and battery before driving or fast charging.
Regenerative braking
Slowing the car with the motor, which puts energy back into the battery.
ULO
Ontario's Ultra-Low Overnight electricity price plan.
TOU
Ontario's Time-of-Use electricity price plan.
EVAP
Canada's Electric Vehicle Affordability Program rebate.
Green plate
Ontario licence plate for eligible low-carbon vehicles, allowing solo HOV use.
Sentry Mode
Tesla's camera-based security monitoring when parked.
FSD (Supervised)
Tesla's driver-assistance software that requires active driver supervision.