this is one of the better summaries of PHEVs. the majority of articles I"ve read and videos I've seen say a PHEV "lets you drive on electricitiy until you run the battery down, then let the gas-hybrid portion take over" which is the least efficient way to drive a PHEV. Even Consumer Reports has made this mistake. as this video suggests, you can (and I say SHOULD) prioritize using the battery drive where it makes sense, like neighborhoods and secondary streets, and using gas-hybrid mode for higher speed travel like on highways. my personal opinion is that most people just want a driving appliance where they get in and go without needed to 'adjust' the car for any reason. while you can do that in a PHEV, actually engaging with the vehicle and operating it appropriately for conditions (like when manual transmissions were the norm) results in a more rewarding (and economical) driving experience. I routinely get > 125 mpg using this mixed-mode approach. I would NEVER be so foolish to exhaust my Ford C-Max Energi's smallish 7.6 kWh battery in highway driving, just to revert to gas-hybrid mode afterwards. use EV mode driving out of the neighborhood and the side streets approaching the entrace to the highway, switch to gas-hybrid mode (Ford called it EV Later) when on the highway, then use the bettery mode on the side-streets to get to your destination. using this approach I get an estimated 700+ miles of range with a 14 gallon tank. thank you for this thoughtful comparision of PHEVs with other vehicles, I hope it helps folks make better buying decisions. PS: I rarely charge in public because 1. I don't need to 2. most public chargers seem to be DCFC nowadays (J1772 combo-only) and 3. EV driver rage. PPS: a PHEV spends less time at a public charger than a BEV because of the comparatively-smaller battery pack needed. ergo, a PHEV will free up its charger faster than any BEV.

I just bought a used 2021 Kia Niro PHEV and love it. The public electrical infrastructure where I live Surrey, BC, Canada still has a long way to go. Half the chargers at the local mall do not work or work only sporadically. Today I found a great working charger at a quiet park not too far from home.

The key is to own a phev that has enough battery for the daily drive. I own a generation 2 Chevrolet volt and love it. Virtually I do not buy gas unless I take a trip. I use the cord that came with it and charge the battery on a 220 outlet. It does a full charge in 4 hours, 8hours if I use a 110. Good video.

@TheInternalwisdom

Ай бұрын

So would the gas go bad inside the tank if u dont go for a road trip for 3 months? Do u use fuel stabalizes? Does it clog the fuel filter/ mess up fuel injectors? Cause any other issues?

@jimlowenberg8756

27 күн бұрын

@@TheInternalwisdom The question about gas in a PHEV is a good one. The gas does get old. We usually keep about 3-5 gallons. Fortunately, the Chevrolet Volt has software that remembers when you put the gas in and forces the car into using the gas and turns on the extender (gas engine) when you drive. It seems to require this also when the engine just needs to operate. After a few miles, you can add fresh gasoline to update the software. I have had this version (2d) and try to run with gas when I know my trip will be over my normal 50 miles of battery range or every once in awhile just so it will operate smoothly when I really need it.

Best of both worlds, you can drive a Phev to work everyday on electric, and then drive across the country without “Range Anxiety”…You don’t need two different vehicles…

@wilkoone9155

9 ай бұрын

In 14 years of BEV driving I have never suffered from range anxiety because I plan my journeys well.

@ukcarver

8 ай бұрын

Sorry that just is not right, you can all you like things can change and do

@Dmaelstrom

4 ай бұрын

@@wilkoone9155well, when I go on holiday I want some freedom. EV is top for commuting, but for road trips, I way prefer phev

@frankoesteling6750

4 ай бұрын

I agree with you. Been phev for 6 years!

@MiguelSilvabemyself

4 ай бұрын

⁠I use combustion in the highways and ev in the cities 💪

A couple of point I would like to add 1- the fuel saving on a phev most of the time will not offset the cost of the vehicule itself, even with tax credit it will take for most vehicule around 80000 km just to break even if you plug in every day and dont use the gas engine 2- the charge settings on a phev can be really usefull for saving fuel, for the outlander 2023 phev for example it take about 3L to recharge the battery to 80% in about 1h 30 minute of time for the efficiency it give about 6.6L / 100km which is a bit better than simply using the gas engine ( claimed in a review I saw but I did not test it myself) 3- the charging mode cant be usefull in a emergency to power other thing with the vehicule, many phev have a 120v outlet that can power a good amount of watt for camping or in case of emergency 4- if most of your commute is covered by the battery on a phev and you occasionnally go on longer trip then it can be a good choice. Also some workplace offer charger for their employee so you can sometime get away with not paying for charging cost which can help you save or get even with the vehicule cost faster 5-if you plan on keeping the vehicule for a long period of time, most phev at least for now keep a really good re-sell value 6- the co2 emission reduction is kind of mitigated for now, rhe added cost of production for most phev emir more c02 than what you will end up saving over a few years, rhe hybrid generally is a a better saving of c02 I believe 7- for the bev people, a phev has all the right to use a lvl2 plug in a charging station has you have, the do what the vehicule was made for, if you have a problem with waiting your turn yro charge buy a phev or a bev with a better range that will let you go to a charger with nobody there, a lot of apps now can tell you if the plug are occupoed or not

Thanks soooooooo much. You make it clear.

2018 Hyundai Ionic PHEV, a magnificent vehicle that does as advertised. EV Mode has 29-30 miles. The Hybrid Mode can yield over 60 mpg. The first 90 miles or so using 1 gallon of gas is insanely excellent! Purchased off lease with 20K miles, the top trim level has technology that enhances safety. One new PHEV, Prius Prime, can go 40 miles on EV Mode. For thousands upon thousands this technology will work to reduce emissions and reduce fuel expenses.

We have an Audi A3 Etron PHEV, and routinely go months without using fossil fuel. We don't travel far, and always plug in, so it drives electric all the time. we drove across Canada last summer, and it was a very thrifty hybrid, using about 5l/100km of fuel. If you regularly do city commutes, and plug in as soon as you get home, these things are great!

Hello Mike, this is a nice introduction for Jane and Joe average carbuyer in the US. It may need an update though to include newer PHEV models and updated information on tax rebate and incentives.

I’ve gotten into some back and forth with EV enthusiasts who don’t like PHEV’s. It starts with arguments like nobody plugs them in or you still have to change oil or they are less reliable. But what it boils down to is that you are still burning oil and that’s not good enough for some. I have a PHEV that is a good EV most of the time and a very good hybrid when I want to go long distances. I chose the PHEV so I wouldn’t have to compromise on range and worry about broken chargers. In exchange I have to maintain my engine much like you would with a hybrid. Maybe that engine will last longer since it almost only gets used on the highway and rarely has to deal with stop and go. So far so good. I made a choice and the vehicle is working as advertised. So it’s maintained it’s resale value well, much better than most EVs and it has been practical. But I’m still burning stuff. So there you go.

Well, that's the fault of the BEV vehicle. Phev is entitled to use the spot. That's like somebody with a drop of fuel in the tank waiting to fill up but the guy in front has half a tank. One is more critical than the other, but it's your own fault for letting it go so low

@Greeves421a

11 ай бұрын

I agree that the Phev driver has every right to use a charger. But its not really as simple as " I got here first, you should plan better" There are far fewer charging stations than there are gas stations, limiting availability, also charging times are much longer making the chargers even less available. Using your example the time to fill from empty and from half a tank of gas is at most what, 5 minutes? For Bev vehicles it is hours maybe a day on lesser chargers and given number of available chargers. I don't know about you but waiting in line is frustrating and wastes your time, for me, I feel safe in saying most feel this way. So I guess it is a matter of courtesy, if a Phev does not HAVE to charge and if the chargers are busy or crowded maybe leave it for those almost out of charge. Courtesy is not as common as it should be though and who is to say who is behind you or has a greater need or has no concern for being nice. I'm not saying what is the right answer, just that is a bit more complicated than it would first seem.

@Edvard.Munchkin

11 ай бұрын

@@Greeves421a Yes you're right I suppose. Oh I don't know, I guess use them if they're quiet and don't bother otherwise

@alanbland1976

7 ай бұрын

​@@Greeves421athat's silly. Lack of charger availability isn't the responsibility of the customer. And while a PHEV owner might reasonably just drive on gas rather than occupy the charger, there's a pretty good chance that when they were to plug in the BEV owner wasn't yet there to plug in anyway. Some BEV owners are irrate any time they have to wait for a PHEV, not just when there's several cars in line at the charger. Nevermind the fact that in the vast majority of cases, if the BEV owner had plugged in the night before they wouldn't need charging today. If I'm going to plug in at work it's because my PHEV cannot make it both directions on my commute on one charge alone. That's not the case for BEVs, in which case they either failed to charge or are trying to mooch on a free charger. BEV advocates are regularly claiming that charging infrastructure is more than adequate for the public's needs, but then don't want to share.

Good video. Although I think the dog stole the show at the end :D

Good stuff. I just bought a BMW X5 and elected to go for the 40i as I do a lot of highway driving. Not optimal for the PHEV variant.

BMW say I should get 57 miles of electric but I get 65 miles on a regular basis and on longer journeys I have No range issues.

I didn't find my prius prime 2024 boring to drive, but I pay much less to insure it comparing to BEV, not to mention great reliability scores, no range anxiety and so forth

Been driving a chevy volt for 6 years now. Great phev. 50 to 60 miles all electric range then 45 to 47 mpg on gas after that.

Is the RAV prime really loud?

I think PHEV are a good gapfill between the large amount of gas stations and the still growing plugin stations (and non-functional ones...) So, although the cake might not be as good, you can have it and eat it too.

'All'? What about the price and breakeven, resell value, service costs and the cost of battery replacement?

Generally what is the distance you can go on hybrid before you have no charge and must go only gas engine? For example a cross country trip?

@alanb76

4 ай бұрын

On the 2023+ Prius Prime the EV range is 40-50 miles on 13 kWh battery and Hybrid range is 500 miles on 10 gallons of gas. Today I went 40 miles on EV mode and have 20% indicated battery left. No gas was used. The battery is about 6-8x smaller than a pure EV battery so a lot less rare metals, flammable solvents and costs go into the battery. The Hybrid mode makes the battery range a lot less important, also saves time and solves range anxiety. You essentially trade a huge fraction of the pure EV battery for a small gas engine and 10 gallon fuel tank. More complexity, slightly more maintenance however Toyotas are very reliable so maintenance is not much of an expense.

3 Questions, if i don't plug-in my car will damage the electric battery? 2 If the battery is not good anymore we can still use the car? 3 the only hybrid car still running if the battery is not working anymore?

is there a performance reduction to a phev or can it go as fast as an EV or ICE car?

@zeph_os

9 ай бұрын

I'd say it's kind of a compromise altogether. My C-Max energi doesn't have a lot of kick unless you floor it in "Auto EV" mode to enable both gas and battery. I know some models likely will have the low end torque to make it relatively quick off the line, but these vehicles are rarely given the performance needed to make them truly exemplary, I think they're mostly just focused on the efficiency

@alanbland1976

7 ай бұрын

PHEVs generally out perform their ICE equivalent models. I'm not sure the comparison to BEVs. That mostly depends on the model. Some PHEVs are more EV than ICE. Some use the EV side as window dressing and are primarily still an ICE.

So basically, a PHEV is an electric vehicle + ICE vehicle but with a smaller battery pack than a full-time EV. Size matters, but the question is "how far do you drive before needing to charge?" as an EV has no ICE as a backup. Someone who lives in an apartment building would benefit from a HEV , unless there's a public Level 2 charger nearby. Even better, many new EV in the Fall of 2024 and 2025 will be NACS-compliant; meaning, they can access Tesla Superchargers which are more common in many areas than the other types. Luckily for me, I can go PHEV or EV when my current ICE vehicle's lease is done this fall. Not sure which, but I've narrowed it down to either KIA or Hyundai.

Great info but not alway's totally correct , as our Plug in Hybrid the Hyundai Tucson 2022 , although he is allot heavier then all our previous petrol cars we had , is quite allot less consuming . Also if the battery is empty , which actually never happens as it save's automatically always abt 15 % of power , and when driving solely on his gas , it is still charging a verry little power into the battery so you can, after all the gas is consumed, still do a couple of km to find gas station or charger station - it is a great car and really save us quite some bucks here in expensive Europ gas and we save also like you mentioned quite some amount on the reigning taxes - thanks and keep up the good work !

As an electric car owner for the last 14 years I'm now on my 5th, a great fan of thrifty diesels which IMO have as good if not better fuel economy than most self charging hybrids. My problem with hybrids is that most of my journeys are long ones. Last week on a very cold wet day I drove 400 miles towing a box trailer. My previous longest drive was just over 500 miles with less than 30 minutes charging, so my question is why do you need an infernal combustion engine?

@jordaobailojunior8937

9 ай бұрын

U are kidding, right?! 400/500 miles...30 min charge.....cold day....and a box trailer..... explain that better to us, please.

@wilkoone9155

8 ай бұрын

@@jordaobailojunior8937 No need to I just did it, & it wasn't a fancy make I have a Skoda.

@alanbland1976

7 ай бұрын

​@@wilkoone9155I just looked at their SUV stats. They have 250mile range. So even starting with a full charge, that'd be getting more range that you'd expect under ideal conditions without a trailer.

I have one issue. An H2 vehicle should be considered an Electric vehicle if it can only propell itself with an Electric motor and a battery. If it can run an internal combustion engine and a battery, it should be considered a hybrid. There are currently some heavy vehicles and equipment that have no battery and burn straight hydrogen in an internal combustion engine. If they add in a battery they are still a hybrid. If they use a chemical reaction of H2 and O2 to generate Electricity, they are still an electric vehicle. An EV battery is still a chemical electrical storage device.

I have a renault captur plug in hybrid and I can get 35 miles in electric but it as an E-Nav feature that when doing long trips it knows when to use battery and when not it's different from E- Save as that uses the engine to charge the battery I did 194 miles on E-Nav and I only used 15 pound in petrol which is 10 litres and uk in a petrol car that would cos about 30 pound to do same Milage also I don't think the E-Save is that bad because it only works if the battery is below 15 miles of range and I have done 80 Miiles that way and it worked out at 10p a mile so 8 pound in petrol I love my phev and it also has a 12v battery for your wipers and electric so doesn't use the battery you use for Miles. Also to charge from 0 to 100 it cos me 90p in electric which would be about 6 pound to do same mileage in a petrol car

what happen if PHEV battery runs out of the juice while driving. Would the vehicle able to continue to drive with the gas engine?

@michaelkemp620

6 ай бұрын

Yes as long as it has gas in the tank

@tonyfairey5224

5 ай бұрын

In reality it never runs the battery flat it diverts energy from the motor to retain at least 20% battery for stopping and starting, a happy owner of a Mitsubishi Eclipse PHEV

@alanb76

4 ай бұрын

The PHEV transitions smoothly to Hybrid mode when the battery gets low. On the 2024 Prius Prime I can't really hear it change over at 35 mph. At freeway speeds you might hear the engine come on.

I've seen that PHEV is not suitable for low annual mileage users, eg 4k pa. Would appreciate your views.

@margolehman5482

9 ай бұрын

Actually, I purchased a Prius Prime BECAUSE I'm a low annual usage. I often have days where I don't drive at all and on days when I do I rarely go more than 40 miles for the entire day. The Prime can get about 40 miles in all electric mode, so most of my driving will be as an EV. But when I have to go farther, the gasoline engine kicks in and it's not too much less efficient than my 2005 Prius Hybrid. I may only have to gas up this car about 6 times in a year.

@zeph_os

9 ай бұрын

I think the answer to that is largely going to come down to the cost differences. Used PHEVs are starting to approach the price point where they're not that much more expensive than their gas counterparts, so if you have the ability to charge reliably, that small difference can be offset somewhat quickly

@margolehman5482

8 ай бұрын

And an update - now that I've been driving the Prime for nearly a month, I'm actually getting more like 45-46 miles all electric range. Quite happy with it.

I have got a BMW 2 series active tourer with 60 miles electric range. And I can get that range

Only first generation of Chevrolet Volt is a serial PHEV (when battery is low the engine is not connected to wheels, charge the battery, electric motor uses the electricity to propel the car) while the second generation from 2016 is an entirely different vehicle with parallel PHEV (the engine does propel the car together with electric motor in some circumstances). All versions of BMW PHEVs, Honda Clarity PHEV, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are serial versions. Simply put a serial PHEV has most of the time lower MPG running on gasoline when battery is depleted vs its own gasoline ICE version. The reason is the ICE part works independently when battery is depleted lagging extra weight of the motor and battery thus increasing gas consumption. On the contrary PHEVs like Toyota RAV4 Prime and Ford Escape PHEV employ their motors and batteries all the time helping ICE to accelerate thus having a significantly better MPG then their gas counterparts even when the car has depleted the battery. My personal experience Chrysler Pacifica PHEV yields 32 MPG on long trips on highways vs a gas one having maximum 20 MPG. On the other hand plugging it in in the local commute the computer shows 86 MPG using electricity- to be understood equivalent.

2010 pirius

Every vehicle is an electric vehicle. The average gasoline powered vehicle requires more electricity to refine the oil needed to make the fuel that it runs on, than the electricity needed to run the average EV the same distance. PHEVs are, like hybrid anything, a compromise. In electric only mode, you are lugging around a heavy engine, gas tank, gas, exhaust system, etc...that are dead weight at this point. In ICE mode, which kicks in quite quickly on the highway, you are lugging around a battery and electric motor that are dead weight. Any mileage ratings for PHEVs do not account for the majority of a highway trip - in many cases the PHEV gets worse mileage than a similar gas only vehicle, and they have been shown to emit far more CO2. Used as a daily driver in electric only, you can expect to cycle the smaller battery much more quickly than a BEV, shortening the life of the battery pack. BEVs can meet or exceed the daily driving needs of most people and most highway trips can be covered with one stop that most people make anyway.

Grocery stores with their free charging? Lmao, the free hour charging is past to the customer not to mention the fossil fuel industry just got a silent partner

CARB lies about the efficiency of electric vehicles which also applies to plug in hybrids if they charge quickly. In their ARB/MSD/7-6-94 they claim the battery is 80% and the motor is 90. THESE are LIES!!! Charging a battery in one hour has an efficiency of 5.88%, in 15 minutes it is only 0.3675%. Every time the motor starts it is almost ZERO for a number of reasons, so the efficiency depends on how many stops are made!!!! All this is also true for a plug in hybrid which uses only battery power and not fuel!