EV, EREV, PHEV and hybrid: how each one drives

Battery electric (BEV)

A battery electric car has no engine at all. A large traction battery feeds an electric motor that turns the wheels, while a small auxiliary battery runs the accessories. There is no fuel tank, fuel line or exhaust pipe.

The only way to refill it is to plug it in, at a wall outlet or at charging equipment. An onboard charger turns the incoming AC power into DC for the battery.

Hybrid (HEV)

A conventional hybrid pairs a petrol engine with an electric motor and a small battery, but it has no charging port. The engine and the energy recovered under braking keep that battery topped up. You fuel it at a petrol station like any petrol car.

Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and BYD's DM-i

A plug-in hybrid carries both an electric motor and a petrol engine, and its battery can be charged from a socket, by the engine or through braking. It generally runs on electricity until the battery is nearly empty, then switches to the engine on its own.

BYD calls its version DM-i, short for Dual Mode intelligent. BYD's Saudi site describes four modes: electric only; series, where the engine drives a generator and the motor turns the wheels; boost, where engine and motor pull together; and charge, which refills the battery on the move.

BYD unveiled DM-i on 11 January 2021, with three models due that March, and quoted a pure-electric range of up to 120 km. The engine made for the system is a 1.5-litre unit called Xiaoyun, which BYD had presented in November 2020.

Range extender (EREV)

In a range-extended car the electric motors always drive the wheels. The petrol engine is tied only to a generator, with no mechanical link to the wheels, so it can run at steady revs once the battery falls to a preset level. In town, with a charged battery, it usually stays off.

Li Auto builds its L series this way. The L9 carries a 72.7 kWh battery rated at 350 km of electric range and 1,370 km in total, both on the WLTC cycle. Deepal's G318, sold in Qatar, uses a 35.07 kWh LFP battery with 138 km of electric range and 848 km combined, also WLTC.

Li Auto's lineup in mid-2026 held a flagship family MPV, four extended-range SUVs in the L series and two battery-electric SUVs in the i series. The company calls itself a pioneer in bringing extended-range cars to market in China, and it develops battery-electric platforms alongside them.

How the labels work in China

Chinese tax incentives set their own tests for plug-in cars, range extenders included. From 2026, such a model qualifies for purchase-tax relief only with a WLTC electric range of at least 100 km, up from 43 km, and its fuel use in charge-sustaining mode must stay under 70% of the national limit for cars up to 2,510 kg.

Buyers in China are moving towards pure electric. Wholesale EREV sales came to 95,000 in May 2026, down 24.9% year on year, while fully electric wholesale sales rose 16.6% to 886,000. Over the first five months of the year, the market share of range extenders fell to 7%, from 10.3% a year earlier.

What separates the two plug-in types is whether the engine can turn the wheels. In a DM-i car it mainly generates power but can drive the wheels directly at times, as it can in many PHEVs, while in an EREV it never does.

Fuel and electricity use, with the makers' figures

Fuel figures for plug-in cars are often given for a drained battery, because that is when the engine does the work. At the DM-i launch in January 2021, BYD said its DM-i cars could use as little as 3.8 L per 100 km, without saying which test standard applied.

A figure of 6.6 L per 100 km is published for the Li L9, again with no cycle named. For the 2026 L8, launched in June 2026, CarNewsChina gives 6.2 L per 100 km with a 72.7 kWh battery and 430 km of electric range, and it does not name a cycle either.

How much fuel you burn depends on how often you plug in. Leaning on the generator makes an EREV's fuel use look closer to a petrol SUV, while regular charging keeps the fuel bill low.

Range and consumption numbers from different cycles do not line up: WLTC, CLTC and NEDC figures cannot be compared directly. InsideEVs treats CLTC as the most optimistic of the common cycles; our batteries and range guide explains why.

What changes in Lebanon

Grid power is scarce. On 13 July 2026, Électricité du Liban reported a national average of about four hours of supply a day, down from seven to nine hours at the end of February. At the start of 2026, private generators supplied 50% of the country's electricity and EDL 31%, according to the Lebanese Centre for Energy Conservation.

Fuel has run short before, too. In 2021 the country went through months of shortage with hours-long queues at petrol stations, and when the central bank stopped subsidising fuel imports that August, prices rose up to five times in some areas.

So the choice comes down to where you can charge. A fully electric car relies on a generator line, solar panels or the hours of grid power, while a plug-in hybrid or a range extender can carry on with petrol when charging is not possible.

On import taxes, Lebanon's 2026 budget law sets customs duty and excise at zero for a new fully electric car and cuts its first registration fee by 70%, while VAT and the import fee still apply. How customs treats a range extender has not been confirmed, and whether a car first registered in China counts as new is a customs ruling, so both are checked with the clearing agent.

Which one suits which driver

If you can charge every night, at home or at work, and most trips fit within the battery's range, a fully electric car has no engine parts to service. If you charge only some of the time but cover long distances, an EREV keeps the electric feel throughout, though it weighs more than a pure EV and its engine still needs servicing.

A plug-in hybrid fits someone who wants electric running for daily trips and an engine that can also turn the wheels. A conventional hybrid needs no charging at all, which helps if you have no access to power, but it runs mostly on petrol.

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