BEV (battery electric vehicle)
Battery electric vehicle
A car powered only by a battery and electric motors, with no engine. You charge it from the grid instead of filling a tank.
A BEV is what most people mean by "electric car": it stores energy in a battery, drives its wheels with an electric motor, and has no combustion engine. The U.S. Department of Energy describes all-electric vehicles as having an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine, and says they must be plugged in to a wall outlet or charging equipment to recharge. The distinction matters mainly when comparing against a hybrid (HEV) or plug-in hybrid (PHEV), which both keep a gas engine.
Because there is no engine, the numbers that describe a BEV differ from a gas car's. Instead of fuel tank size and mpg, you compare usable battery capacity (in kWh), efficiency (for example kWh/100 km), rated range on a named test cycle such as WLTP or EPA, and charging speed in kW.
On CarPairly, the Electric branch contains BEVs only. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids sit in the Gas branch because they still burn fuel. Electricity prices and charging access affect a BEV's running costs, so CarPairly's cost tools use your market's household electricity price.