Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a mixture of electric vehicle and conventional vehicle, which has the merits of reducing exhaust gas and the consumption of gasoline HEV is the new development way of automobile industry. This paper introduces HEV, and discusses the essential framework of HEV drive system,the basic types of the electrical drive and their features and the present state of the development at home and abroad.Some key technologies are also proposed which determine the drive and control performance of HEV.