The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile is an iconic American long-range, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is used by the United States Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. The long-range analogy is perhaps what JSW MG Motor India wanted to play on when it decided to christen its newly launched Hector Tomahawk plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), alongside an all-electric version of this new SUV, to emphasise range efficiency.The vehicle is India’s first mainstream plug-in hybrid SUV, claimed to deliver over 115km of electric-only range and a combined fuel efficiency figure of over 40kmpl. MG claims the Tomahawk PHEV can cover over 1,100km with a full tank of fuel and a fully charged battery.So, what exactly is a PHEV?To understand this, it’s important to examine the textbook definition of an EV – a vehicle that can be powered by an electric motor, which draws electricity from a battery and can be charged from an external source.Beyond this broad classification, though, across most parts of the world, a range of vehicle categories are subsumed as EVs. Globally, the EV segment covers, besides battery electric vehicles or BEVs, an alphabet soup of some other technologies that incorporate electrification in some form: HEVs or hybrid electric vehicles, PHEVs or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and FCEVs or hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. All these technologies are part of a broad basket of low-emission vehicular platforms that the Chinese now term as New Energy Vehicles.How PHEVs differ from regular hybrids PHEV (US Dept of Energy)Unlike BEVs, which are typically battery electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model S or the Tata Nexon electric that need to be plugged in before the battery is discharged, technologies such as HEVs and PHEVs bring together the best of both worlds.For instance, HEVs, or conventional hybrid electric vehicles, such as strong hybrid variants of the Toyota Hycross Hybrid and the Honda City e:HEV in India, or the Toyota Prius HEV sold abroad, combine a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system, like in a regular petrol car, with an electric propulsion system to produce a hybrid drivetrain that substantially lowers fossil fuel usage.Also in Explained | Why a flat map fails to accurately depict EarthThe on-board battery in a conventional hybrid vehicle gets charged when the internal combustion engine is powering the drivetrain to produce forward or reverse motion, and this charge from the battery kicks in to offer motive power when it is fully juiced up. There is no need or provision to plug in these HEVs to recharge the batteries.Story continues below this adThe PHEVs, or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, such as the new Tomahawk or the Chevrolet Volt in the US market, also have a hybrid drivetrain that uses a combination of the internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric power for motive power, but is backed by rechargeable batteries, quite like the HEVs.The big difference therefore is that a PHEV can be plugged into a power source, which offers an external option to charge the battery that is not available on an HEV. A plug-in hybrid car has a comparatively bigger battery and offers a longer electric range than a traditional HEV. The battery, which gets charged while driving and with regenerative braking, as in an HEV, can be recharged by plugging into a socket if that option is available. Effectively, a PHEV combines the positive attributes of internal combustion (range on long journeys) with those of plug-in electrics (a cleaner engine that typically costs less to run) in a single vehicle, resulting in a combination of features superior to those of a regular HEV.A bigger battery means that a plug-in hybrid car can be driven completely on 100 per cent electric power far more frequently if it is recharged adequately at a charging point. And unlike a regular hybrid, it does not have to depend entirely on driving or braking for the on-board battery to get charged, given that external charging is an option in the PHEV that is not there in an HEV.On the flip side, plug-in hybrids are comparatively more expensive to buy than their internal combustion counterparts, and they are also pricier than normal HEVs, given that the on-board battery in a PHEV is bigger than in an HEV. Running costs for a PHEV, on the other hand, are generally lower, especially if the batteries are charged from an external socket regularly. The important thing is that in the transition to emission-free vehicles, PHEVs offer a genuine progression from hybrids to BEVs, given that they address several concerns with battery electrics — range anxiety being the most important.Story continues below this adWhy MG is betting on a multi-powertrain platformThe Tomahawk is one of the first iterations of MG’s ADAPT, or Advance Drive Architecture platform, which the Chinese SAIC-linked Indian entity claims is a modular, multi-powertrain platform designed to underpin MG’s next-generation vehicles in India, including new EVs, HEVs, PHEVs, and range-extender electric vehicles (REEVs). Both EV and PHEV models are built on the same ADAPT platform, but the company claims both have different use cases.The EV variant is being pitched to commuters who drive largely within city limits, with a claimed 500 kilometres of range. The car also claims to bring the first practical use case scenario of the vehicle-to-home technology – so in case of a power outage, one can use the battery of the car to be able to run some electronics or a camper while vacationing. It also brings with it a very Chinese feature – karaoke inside the car.Also Read | Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, to Blackberry: How humbled tech giants reinvented for a comebackWith a claimed combined range of about 1,100 kilometres on a full tank and battery charge, MG is pitching the PHEV at buyers who make more outstation trips or might otherwise consider a diesel vehicle.The charging problem PHEVs try to solveThe charging gap, which is now one of the major hurdles to the increased penetration of EVs in global markets, is an incipient problem in India too. According to Michigan-based data analytics and consumer intelligence company JD Power’s latest data, in the US, around 83 per cent of EV charging occurs at home, but one in three car consumers do not have a home charger nor the ability to install one. The most common reason people decide not to buy an EV is the lack of public charging and EV owners say public charging issues are the least satisfying aspect of the ownership experience. That is a problem that Indian EV owners are also incrementally facing. That’s where hybrids are seen as a superior solution, even if only for the transition period.Story continues below this adHybrid technology is being seen as a good transitional step towards attaining the all-electric goal. Hybrids typically improve fuel efficiency through the electrification of the powertrain, but come with the advantage of not needing the charging infrastructure base that is essential for BEVs. Downsides include complicated engineering, given the fact that a hybrid packs in more equipment under the hood since both the ICE and the electric motor assembly are present together. That also makes hybrids pretty expensive (the Hector Tomahawk PHEV starts at nearly Rs 26 lakh ex-showroom, with a cheaper option available under the battery-as-a-service facility).But manufacturers claim that a hybrid vehicle base can also potentially spawn a full-scale battery ecosystem, which can eventually be leveraged for a BEV push. PHEVs are a superior option among hybrids in this regard. So the Tomahawk could well be on target to fill in a much-needed technology gap in India.