Full Hybrid and Hybrid Plug-in Vehicles

Transport technologies

Propulsion of hybrid vehicles is obtained through one or more electricmachines and a heat engine suitably associated with each other. The thermal engine can only provide energy for traction while the electric machine can both provide and receive energy from the motion. In the second case, the electricity produced is stored on board in batteries (and/or capacitors) for later use. In hybrid vehicle, acceleration and deceleration, which in thermal engines give rise to high consumption and emissions, are managed by the electric motor, allowing the thermal engine to work in high efficiency and low emission speed range.  In "parallel" hybrid, the complementarity of the torque curves of the electric and thermal motor allows at low speed, when the efficiency of the thermal is reduced, to use only the electric traction and to obtain high performance by combining the two motors in the acceleration phases and at high speed. In first-generation hybrid vehicles, energy is supplied only by fuel and the batteries are recharged using the electric machine as a generator driven by the thermal engine or by the energy recovery associated with the brake-engine or braking phases. In plug-in hybrid vehicles, the batteries can be recharged through both the thermal engine and the grid. The high storage capacity guarantees significant distances even in electric-only mode.Charging from the power network can lead to greater overall efficiency in energy use.

Hybrid vehicles have been on the world market since the early 2000s. More recent is the spread of plug-in hybrids.

In Italy, hybrid vehicles (HEVs, "Hybrid Electric Vehicles")registered were 110,024 in 2019 (5.7% of the total), 223,321 in 2020 (16% of the total) and 298,069 until August 2021 (27.9% of the total), while registrations of plug-in hybrid vehicles were 6,540 in 2019 (0.3% of the total), 27,408 in 2020 (2% of the total) and 47,421 untilAugust 2021 (4.4% of the total).It is evident a clear growth in sales of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars in the last three years. This mainly depends on the incentive mechanisms that the Italian government has increased during the last three years.

The market interest in electric vehicles (see the specific brief) and hybrid vehicles is linked to the greater efficiency and lower environmental impact compared to traditional vehicles, both locally (vehicle emissions) and globally (fuel and electricity production),with a consequent reduction in CO₂ emissions, particulates and other air pollutants

03-08-2022

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