Ludicrous Feed: Why are plug-in hybrids popular?

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• Hybrids are like little kids swimming with water wings, or cycling with training wheels. My prediction: the next iteration of batteries, due in 2025, which have a decent range (500km+), will see hybrids start to disappear from the sales rankings.

  • Agreed. People will only pay a premium for PHEV for so long.

    • I agree, why would anyone want to have a Car with twice the weight? I am waiting for an electric Van, and expect in 12 months I can buy a Van with a range of more than 600 kms

      • It's not twice the weight. REx PHEVs engines are typically not bigger than a motorcycle engine.

  • Unfortunately its difficult for the mass car buying market to gain expert knowledge about EVs (don't know where to go for information, have no idea about the Chinese brands and where they are located) and are often going to traditional OEM car dealerships to see what electric vehicles they have and are then directed away from EVs to what the dealership want to sell them.

  • Yes, once the next generation of batteries with longer range and faster charging speeds the need for a REx PHEV will diminish.

    That's still a few years off though. Meantime people want an EV they can also road trip with.

    • “Meantime people want an EV they can also road trip with”

      That would be my Tesla Model 3. I’ve been to some pretty remote places in it.

• This idea that there is not enough charging infrastructure is odd given that people can charge their EV at home but can't fill up their ICE car. The petrol bowser was not invented until 1905, decades after the ICE car and the first drive in petrol station didn't start until 1913. It only took about 20 years for most horses used for transport to be replaced by cars. While recharging an EV may not be as convenient as an ICE car, we are way ahead of where the early pioneer ICE drivers were over 100 years ago.

  • Upvote for the history lesson 👍

  • One big difference was that you could carry extra fuel with you, but totally agree.

  • Agreed, This is partially FUD re ev charging and car companies leveraging their ICE technology short term . High probability that the next generation of EV's arrive with next gen batteries and new platforms all at a lower cost resulting in a tipping point where Hybrids market share drops greatly. Then there is V2G which could change the market dynamics greatly over the next 18 months.

• Enjoy your posts, thanks Tom.

• Having a petrol power that often won't be used due to it being a back up for the electric motor, it reminds me of a petrol car parked in a garage for a long time, it needs servicing or won't start

  The Model 3 (for instance) has a range ≈ 400km. I empathize with sticking to what you know, I get it. A car spends most of its time parked, just do what you do with your phone when sleeping, plug it in

  • This is proven not to be the case with many PHEVs out there, let alone the claims made by BYD about their particular Super DM tech, Google the many Mitsubishi PHEV reviews about exactly this point.

    Not a hybrid fan here & having owned three EVs over the last five years or so, but the small BYD Xiayoun engines are meant to be fuss free & where any annual servicing will take care of that.

• PHEV - an interim solution, like the compact fluorescent like bulb?
  An easier step if you fear full commitment?

  • “PHEV – an interim solution, like the compact fluorescent light bulb?”

    I like that analogy… Can you even buy compact fluorescent light bulbs any more?

  • Rubbish.
    It's only hindsight that calls it interim. At the time it was a million miles ahead of incandescent bulbs.
    How about arc lighting? It still exists.

• I really want to see a petrol generator and some jerry cans attached to roof racks that is connected to the charge port on a Tesla with lettering down the side "Tesla hybrid "driving around making a statement on how ridiculous hybrids are. Maybe with "now with 800km of range" as well.

  • .. and a "Hybrid ICE" badge.

• Worth identifying that ‘hybrids’ and ‘PHEV’ are not the same thing, and most PHEVs are not the same thing as BYD’s newer DMI tech (aka Super DM), where the batteries are larger & faster and a redesigned Xiayoun hybrid engine & BMS flips the model around: battery used 100% easily for urban & petrol as a REx for long trips.

  A very different thing to (say) Toyota’s hybrids or even Mitsubishi's PHEVs. Word has it that Toyota will be licensing BYD’s SuperDM, but remains to be seen if this is just for the Chinese market or not.

  See: https://www.byd.com/au/byd-super-dm-plug-in-hybrid-technology-new
  https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/if-you-cant-beat-them-toyota-to-use-byds-plug-in-hybrid-tech-for-new-models-coming-in-the

  • Exactly. PHEV REx or EREV are a totally different thing to a PHEV.
    Actually the old BMW i3 had a REx variant and was still classed as a BEV, not a PHEV. The engine such as it was I think was a two stroke 50cc motorcycle engine

• In NSW as at 9 December 2024:

  Number of battery electric vehicles registered: 74,973
  Number of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles registered: 8,189

  BEV outnumbers PHEV 9.16 times to 1.

  Just sayin’

  • Without knowing what the intended use is, those numbers are almost meaningless.

    • So the number of registered vehicles with different motive types in NSW is “almost meaningless”.

      Okie dokie… 🙄

  • Don't confuse stocks with flows.

  • Except that historical based data ignores new PHEV REx tech arriving this year.

    PHEV sales up by 129%
    BEV sales up by 3%

    PHEV sales now 1/3 that of BEV and rising.

    • Have you considered that the temporary surge in PHEV sales is due to people trying to beat the cessation of FBT concessions for PHEVs from April 2025? Have you considered the possibility that PHEV sales might collapse after that?

      • It's possible. I guess we will know soon enough.

• A lot of PHEV REx buyers are ex diesel drivers who wouldn't consider an EV otherwise.
  This is a very good development.