There are ___ types of electric vehicles.

• A. 3
• B. 4
• C. 2
• D. 5

Answer: (B)

The main idea is recognizing how electric vehicles are grouped by energy source and charging method. There are four widely used types: battery electric vehicles that run solely on electricity stored in onboard batteries; hybrid electric vehicles that use both a gasoline engine and an electric motor but cannot be charged from the grid; plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that can be charged from the grid and also use a gasoline engine; and fuel cell electric vehicles that generate electricity onboard from hydrogen. This four-category framework covers vehicles powered entirely by batteries, those that combine power sources, those that extend electric range with grid charging, and those that use hydrogen fuel cells. If you thought there were only two, you’d be missing the grid-charged and hydrogen options; three would omit one of these categories, and five would imply extra subdivisions not generally treated as separate primary types.