Robert Tickner’s Post

Robert Tickner, in principle I agree. However, certain boundary conditions can favour an "abuse" of PHEVs. This was (maybe still is to a lesser degree) the case in Germany, where many new cars are sold/leased as company cars, to be provided to employees, usually including fuel cards. A corresponding value representing the car's usage is then added to the employee's taxable income, this being a function of the new car's list price. Significant tax breaks are provided not only for BEVs and FCEVs, but also for PHEVs. The result? Many fleet PHEVs were only acquired due to the tax savings and were never plugged in (often being returned to lessors with the charging cables still in sealed packaging). The manufacturers willingly went along, after all, for them it meant more revenue and lower CO2 values on paper. Go figure...

I have a plug-in hybrid for one year and it is terrible because: 1. the range is so low that it only last max 40 km (if so) vs BEVs which offer around 450+ 2. there is enough (and growing) EV charging network in Europe with more than 700k chargers. 3. PiH cannot charge in fast chargers (max 3.5kW as PiH are single phase) 4. pay 20% to 30% more for a PiH that is used 90% in petrol, so emissions are 10% lower 5. PiH are less efficient than traditional petrol car because their engine is smaller and have to carry more weight 6. TCO is higher because you need to maintain 2 tech in one car Respect should be a given to everyone; however, we are discussing EVs vs Plug-in hybrids which should have a technical no a humanistic approach. However, as we are now talking about respect and technical, your post is misleading the market.

Can you kindly share what is WLTP homologation cycle? 😀

My turn: We have a Toyota RAV4 PHEV at home , it's the most uneconomical car in our fleet (23kwh/100km ,6l/100km ). I'm waiting for the day to give it back . (It's a tax reason car) We also have a toyota Bz4x , 17kwh/100km ,it's been great ,only thing disappointing to me is toyotas lack of interest in it in Germany?I ordered the Bz4x for the Mrs (she wanted a gr86)I "surprised her" with the bz4x..we both enjoy driving it 😃 And my personal favourite is my Polestar,18kwh/100km (w 400+ hp) The RAV4 is driven mostly in EV mode -then why even bother get a phev?- see again..tax reasons I also had an opportunity to drive a previous generation Prius PHEV to a seminar at Toyota in Cologne..I charged it and made the 500km round trip . I made notes about the electric consumption and fuel consumption. The next time,I drove my favourite,noted the same ,the next time I took the Bz4x . The Prius was by far the most expensive despite my efforts(hyper- miling! It used a 3/4 tank and 0 charge !) As expected the Bz4x was best,closely followed by the Polestar both having a quick recharge at the same service station close to Trier ,in both cases the charge time was sweetened with a magnum double choc.

My daily driver for the last few years has been a WRX that averaged around 25 MPG. I recently picked up a Prius Prime and even though I can't plug it in all the time, I'm still averaging 73 MPG over the 6,600 miles that I've driven it while only charging when convenient. I've used roughly 90 gallons of gasoline over those 6,600 miles compared to using around 264 gallons of gasoline for the last 6,600 miles in the WRX before I traded it in. I am becoming better at topping off my charge when on the road so I anticipate that figure to get even better.

The reality is that these PHEVs will be around for a decade or more and have likely displaced a number of otherwise BEV purchases/leases, and may have been subsidised with neither compulsion nor evidence of use as a BEV…such subsidy should have gone to public charging installations to facilitate the use of BEVs. The ‘reward’ for buying a PHEV should be the savings in use as a BEV, and if that use is not predictable or likely, then buy an ICEV and save the money, get a better car, or if predictable buy a BEV and plan your journeys…a small price to pay for a 90% running cost saving. As car owners/users we are not obliged to be thinking about the vehicle lifetime impact, but as planners, legislators, we should be; when half the national parc is over 10 years old it is clear most markets will take decades to be clear of ICEVs aside from those for which there is no substitute, and even this is an unlikely situation a decade from now as battery tech advances.

Doesn’t it depend on your driving pattern? If you can charge at home at a 10th of the cost of commercial charging and the majority of your journeys are less than 50miles than in reality you are almost the same as a BEV. However if you have a much longer journey pattern that quickly exhausts the range on your PHEV then perhaps a BEV is a better solution for you. Despite some statistics, the real world experience of public charging remains problematic with inoperative or blocked charging stations at ridiculous prices. There is a place for both PHEV and BEV in the market.

Improvement on mileage, reduced expenditure on fuel, and reduced CO2 are all positive impacts. People who argue EV or nothing are missing the point, any improvement is a good improvement. Plug-in hybrids make sense for more people than full EVs do right now. I’d rather have society make incremental and achievable progress than be at a standstill.

Anyone who says it's BEV or bust is blinded by ideology

I've often wondered whether PHEVs truly help reduce CO2 emissions when considering the CO2 emitted during battery production and the extra CO2 generated from carrying around a minimum 300 kg battery. For sure it will depend on the proportion of travel using electric power versus the internal combustion engine, but it would be interesting to read a study to understand the breakeven point for this.