Hybrid vehicles ‘ARE SO 2023’. Yeah, EVs and PHEVs are all the rage for advertisers, but hybrids are what people are actually buying. CNBC reports (source):
“Sales of traditional hybrid electric vehicles, or HEVs, such as the Toyota Prius, are outpacing those of all-electric vehicles in 2023, according to Edmunds. HEVs accounted for 8.3% of U.S. car sales, about 1.2 million vehicles sold, through November of this year. That share is up 2.8 percentage points compared with total sales last year.
EVs made up 6.9% of sales heading into December, or roughly 976,560 units, up 1.7 percentage points compared with total sales last year. Sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, accounted for only 1% of U.S. sales through November.“
Hybrids, though a little pricier than their non-hybrid ICE counterparts, are all what people want these days. They’re brain dead simple to operate. The fueling infrastructer is built out and reliable. Hybrid batteries have become reliable and have long warranties. There’s little to worry about, think about, and you’ll get pretty good fuel economy to boot. This seems to be what the new car buying public wants – even if your new ‘hybrid’ car still only gets 20 mpg.
Another upside to hybrid technology is that a hybrid battery requires a lot fewer battery cells than does a full electric car. For those concerned about the source of materials used to manufacture battery cells used in electric cars, this is important. From an article entitled ‘Battery Taxonomy: The Differences between Hybrid and EV Batteries‘, this chart gives some indication of the difference in cell count, energy capacity and density among select hybrid, PHEV and BEV models from Ford:
One final note about hybrid vehicles is that the notion of ‘range anxiety’ doesn’t exist. Fill your tank, drive until it gets to a quarter tank and fill. No worries about percent charge, where’s the next charging station, will the charger work when I get there, charging only to 80% to keep my battery happy, etc. What most people want is to not have to think about their car. Turn the key (or press the button) and go. I have never been one of those people. I used to listen to ever little sound and think about what might be causing it, and should I worry. Now that I own an EV, there is no sound. That takes some getting used to, but I completely trust my car, and that’s a good thing!