1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Overview of different car types

September 18, 2012

These days, most cars have otto or diesel engines that run on fossil fuels. Cars with hybrid motors were first introduced in the late 1990s. As well as the standard combustion engine, they also have a battery that stores braking energy, which helps power the engine and reduces CO2 emissions.

Range extender vehicles work on a similar principle, extending the limited range of the electric motor with the use of a normal internal combustion engine.

Plug-in battery powered automobiles have also been on the market for a few years, but their driving range is relatively limited because their power source, a battery, is currently much heavier than the power source of a conventional car, the fuel tank.

Moreover, public recharging points are few and far between. It won’t be long before we see the launch of hydrogen vehicles, using hydrogen as their onboard fuel for motive power.

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW