Here we are making reference to all street vehicles that are powered by an electric motor and primarily get their energy from the power grid – in other words: can be recharged externally.
This includes purely electric vehicles, vehicles with a combination of electric motor and a small combustion engine (range extended electric vehicles – REEV) and hybrid vehicles that can be recharge via the power grid (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles – PHEV). Furthermore, the National Development Plan for Electric Mobility does not just look at specific vehicles but at the overall system. Aside from electric cars, this so-called systemic approach also includes the energy supply side as well as the charging and traffic infrastructure in its definition of electric mobility, since those components are interconnected and together, they lead to sustainable mobility. One thing all definitions have in common is the narrow interpretation of the term electric vehicles, which is based on the idea of electricity as “fuel.” This was chosen with good reason. Because when you consider the entire energy chain, only electricity offers efficiency advantages and – as long as it comes from renewable sources – a significant reduction of CO2 emissions.