EV
Abbreviation with 6 meanings
| Stands for | Electric vehicle |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 6 |
| Categories | Science & Engineering, Government & Politics, Units & Measurements, Business & Finance |
| Also written | e.V., eV |
EV has six meanings. The most common are Electric vehicle (energy) and Electoral vote (political); it can also stand for Electronvolt, Enterprise value, Earned value and Eingetragener Verein (registered association).
Meanings of EV at a glance
| # | EV stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electric vehicle | Science & Engineering › Energy |
| 2 | Electoral vote | Government & Politics › Political |
| 3 | Electronvolt | Units & Measurements › Metric and SI Unit |
| 4 | Enterprise value | Business & Finance › Finance |
| 5 | Earned value | Business & Finance › Project Management |
| 6 | Eingetragener Verein (registered association) | Business & Finance › Company Type |
1. Electric vehicle
Science & Engineering · Energy Abbreviations · also used in transportation
Vehicle propelled by one or more electric motors using energy stored in batteries or, less often, produced by a fuel cell. In everyday use EV usually means a car that plugs in to charge; EVs produce no tailpipe emissions and are far more energy-efficient than gasoline cars.
Example: The apartment complex added six Level 2 chargers for residents who drive an EV.
Electric cars are older than many people assume: around 1900 they made up roughly a third of cars on American roads before cheap gasoline and the electric starter favored combustion engines. The modern revival followed the Tesla Roadster (2008) and Nissan Leaf (2010). Worldwide sales passed 17 million in 2024, more than a fifth of new cars, and Norway's new-car market is now overwhelmingly electric.
2. Electoral vote
Government & Politics · Political Abbreviations
Vote cast by a member of the Electoral College for President or Vice President. Election forecasters and news graphics use EV to tally how many electoral votes each candidate has won or is projected to win.
Example: The forecast gives the challenger 276 EVs, just over the 270 needed.
Each state's electoral votes equal the size of its congressional delegation, so allocations shift after each census; California has the most. "Faithless electors" who break their pledge can be penalized or replaced under state laws, which the Supreme Court upheld in Chiafalo v. Washington (2020). In everyday usage, EV far more often means electric vehicle.
3. Electronvolt (eV)
Units & Measurements · Metric and SI Unit Abbreviations
Energy gained by an electron accelerated through a potential difference of one volt, about 1.602 × 10^-19 joule. Physicists use eV and its multiples for atomic energies, photon energies and particle masses.
Example: The Large Hadron Collider collides protons at a total energy of 13.6 TeV.
Accepted for use with SI but not an SI unit. Visible-light photons carry about 1.8 to 3.1 eV and X-ray photons thousands of eV. Particle physicists quote masses in eV/c², such as about 125 GeV for the Higgs boson. Semiconductor band gaps are given in eV, about 1.1 eV for silicon.
4. Enterprise value
Business & Finance · Finance Abbreviations
Total value of a company's operating business to all capital providers, calculated as market capitalization plus debt, preferred stock and minority interest, minus cash and equivalents. It approximates the theoretical cost of buying the whole company, debt included.
Example: At $40 a share, the company's market cap is $8 billion, and with $3 billion of net debt its EV is $11 billion.
EV is preferred over market cap for comparing companies with different capital structures, and it is the numerator in multiples such as EV/EBITDA and EV/sales. In everyday usage EV most often means electric vehicle, and in photography exposure value; financial context makes clear which is meant.
5. Earned value
Business & Finance · Project Management Abbreviations
Budgeted value of the work actually completed to date, calculated as the percentage of work complete multiplied by the budget for that work. It shows what the completed work was supposed to cost.
Example: We're 40% complete on a $500,000 budget, so EV is $200,000.
Older US government terminology calls it BCWP (budgeted cost of work performed). Comparing EV with actual cost shows cost performance, and with planned value shows schedule performance. In finance, EV means enterprise value.
6. Eingetragener Verein (registered association) (e.V.)
Business & Finance · Company Type Abbreviations
German legal form for nonprofit associations, such as sports clubs, charities and professional bodies, entered in the register of associations at the local court. Registration gives the association legal personality and shields members from liability for its debts.
Example: FC Bayern München e.V. remains the majority owner of the club's professional football company.
At least seven members are needed to register a Verein. Many e.V.s hold recognized charitable status (gemeinnützig) for tax purposes. Germany has hundreds of thousands of registered associations, making the e.V. one of the country's most common legal forms.
Related abbreviations
More energy abbreviations
- E10 – Gasoline with up to 10% ethanol
- E85 – Ethanol fuel blend (up to 85% ethanol)
- EPR – European Pressurized Reactor
- EROI – Energy return on investment
- EVSE – Electric vehicle supply equipment
- FCEV – Fuel cell electric vehicle
- FiT – Feed-in tariff
- HALEU – High-assay low-enriched uranium
See all 74 energy abbreviations →