It's an alphabet soup out there, so here's the plain-English version. There are three main types of vehicle we sell, and the easiest way to tell them apart is to ask one question: do you plug it in, and what powers it?
ICE — Internal Combustion Engine. The traditional setup: a petrol or diesel engine, no electric motor, no plug. This is what most cars on the road still are. You fill up at the pump and go.
EV — Electric Vehicle (sometimes called fully electric or battery electric). Runs purely on a battery and electric motor — no petrol or diesel involved at all. You charge it by plugging it in, either at home or at a public charger. Cheaper to run per mile and nothing coming out of the exhaust, but you'll want to think about where you'll charge it.
Hybrid — A mix of both worlds: a petrol or diesel engine and an electric motor with a battery. The car decides when to use each to save fuel. Hybrids break down into two types, and the difference comes down to whether you plug them in.
Self-charging / mild hybrid — You never plug these in; they charge their own battery as you drive (partly through braking). Some are tuned for fuel efficiency, others for a bit of extra poke and smoother stop-start running — many BMWs, for example, use a mild hybrid setup for exactly that. Think of it as a petrol or diesel car that's given a helping hand by a small electric system.
Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) — As the name suggests, you plug these in to charge a bigger battery. That lets you drive a decent distance on electric alone (usually somewhere in the region of 20–40 miles, depending on the car) before the engine takes over for longer journeys. Great if you've got a short daily commute you can do on electric but still want the engine there for longer trips and no range worries.
The quick way to remember it: ICE never plugs in and has no electric help. Self-charging and mild hybrids never plug in but charge themselves. Plug-in hybrids plug in but keep the engine as backup. EVs only plug in, with no engine at all.