During Christmas dinner, a neighbor asked me what plug-in hybrid cars were for sale in America. I didn’t know the answer, so I let my friends at Google help me. Below is a list I found EV adoption. The information is as of September 4, 2022, so there may have been some changes since then, but this was the most current information according to Google.
There’s another PHEV, the Ferrari SF 90 Stradale, but since it costs $625,000 we figured most of our readers wouldn’t be interested in using one as a commuter or grocery store, so we got it omitted. For the record, it has an 8 kWh battery and a range of 15 km. Whoop dey doo!
What is a plug-in hybrid?
It is fair to say that there is some confusion about the differences between a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, and a battery electric vehicle, so let’s start there. A hybrid has a petrol engine that is the main means of driving the car forward. It usually has a small battery (1.31 kWh in the current Prius) and an electric motor that help to get the car started from a standstill. When you take your foot off the gas, the engine usually becomes a generator and sends some electricity back to the battery. The benefits are slightly lower fuel consumption in stop-and-go driving. Typically, the battery and motor have no effect when the car is moving at a constant speed, such as on the highway.
A hybrid car has no place to plug in. All energy supplied to the battery comes from burned gasoline. While most are designed and built to be highly efficient, they still have an exhaust pipe and leave a trail of carbon dioxide behind at all times.
A plug-in hybrid can be charged from a wall outlet. Most have a battery of around 15 kWh, which means they have enough electrical energy to run the car for 20 miles or more on electric power. The champ on the list above is the Karma GS-6 with a 61-mile range, but the Toyota RAV4 Prime, at 42 miles, is the best available in a car any ordinary person could buy. (Notice next generation Prius Prime coming out next year may match or surpass the range of the RAV4 Prime.)
What makes a plug-in hybrid desirable is that it has enough range for many people to drive most daily chores purely on battery power. The average American drives less than 25 miles a day, meaning all day-to-day driving can be done without burning a drop of gas. Since these cars are designed to plug into a standard 110-volt outlet (they can also be charged with 220-volts), they can charge their batteries overnight and be ready for another day of emission-free driving the next morning.
Now here’s the best part. When it’s time to head across the river and through the woods for Christmas dinner at Grandma’s, the onboard petrol engine allows the car to act like a conventional car and go as long and as far as your bladder will allow. Never range anxiety! The owner experiences the power, acceleration, quietness and pleasure of regenerative braking that a fully electric car offers. That’s pretty sweet. For many drivers, a plug-in hybrid serves as a bridge to the battery-electric future of driving without the anxiety some people feel when driving an electric car.
Series vs parallel hybrid
With that introduction, let’s explore a topic that many people find utterly confusing: series versus parallel. In a series hybrid, the petrol engine has no mechanical connection to the wheels. It is only there as a generator to power the battery. A series hybrid is the closest thing to a battery electric car.
In a parallel hybrid, the gasoline engine helps drive the wheels and also charges the battery. The thing is, in a parallel hybrid, the engine can help the car move forward a little or a lot. Some models, especially in Europe, rely almost constantly on the petrol engine, meaning that the emissions reductions a plug-in hybrid should offer are often much lower than expected.
If you are not sure whether the plug-in hybrid you are considering uses a series or parallel powertrain (some models use a combination), ask the sales staff at your local dealer. When their eyes roll back in their heads and they start chattering, walk out and find a dealer whose salespeople are trained to know the technicalities of the products they sell. Or let Google give you the answers you need.
Here’s an easy way to find out. Take the car for a test drive. Press the accelerator pedal from a complete standstill. If the car jerks forward in near total silence, it’s a series hybrid. If a lot of mechanical noises come from under the hood while the engine is running, it’s a parallel hybrid. In general, a series hybrid is closer to a real electric car experience and should be your preference.
The takeaway meals
Hybrids are all well and good, but they’re just a more efficient way to travel with an internal combustion engine doing all the work. Plug-in hybrids can eliminate most of those carbon emissions, which is pretty much the point of the EV revolution, and do it without the range anxiety many drivers face.
However, there is a downside. Pure electric cars have few moving parts and generally have much lower maintenance costs. There just aren’t that many pieces in the drivetrain that can break or wear out. A plug-in hybrid still has a petrol engine and a transmission containing thousands of rotating parts. More parts means more maintenance.
This is what it’s about. Every car should match its owner’s use case. We might all want to drive a Porsche 911, but it might not be the right choice for our lifestyle. Similarly, we might all want a Tesla Model X with those incredible falcon-wing doors, but a $100,000 vehicle might not be in line with our budgetary concerns. No car is the right car if it doesn’t do what you need it. However, there is one thing we must tell you. A plug-in hybrid does not do you much good if you don’t plug it in! You’d be surprised how many people forget that piece of the puzzle.
We here CleanTechnica strongly advocate for strategies that enable us to live our daily lives with the least amount of carbon emissions. But if you make your living pulling horse trailers or bulldozers, an electric vehicle probably isn’t for you. Our mission is to give you the information you need to make informed decisions that are right for you. For many, a plug-in hybrid may be just what the doctor ordered.
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