Considering Trump is threatening to pull EV subsidies, the time to take advantage is in the next three months, at minimum. Considering the fact that Elon is going to do everything he can to favor Tesla, the fact that the US tariffs prohibit any cars coming in from China, and the very real possibility that the US might take a step back from broad BEV adoption… it feels like the safest bet is to get a PHEV for now. Especially considering it would be my only vehicle, and I need to occasionally take longer 5+hr trips, and charging infrastructure is dodgy at best still.
I want to avoid Teslas, and I want to avoid the Prius (had the Prime, too many issues with the air conditioning smelling like socks), what are good options that are actually available in the US? Does anyone have any first-hand experience to share?
BMW i3 if you don’t mind a used car, has actual EV range which is nice
I’ve got a Ford Escape PHEV. Handles like a boat. The steering is unnecessarily heavy. The auto liftgate is slow as hell.
I get 5.4 l/100km on hybrid mode and I usually get about 45km of electric driving. For around town it’s fantastic. Pretty comfy on road trips.
Charges 0 to full after 3.5 hours on a level 2 charger.
Most EV enthusiasts will yell and scream about how terrible PHEVs are because of “mUh 2 drivetrains n maintenance”. They’re viewing PHEVs from a BEV standpoint, when in reality you must look at a PHEV as a more efficient gas hybrid vehicle.
Depending on where you are, double check the chargers where you would need them. Plug share is useful for this, particularly in their trip planning mode (desktop only). I’ve found that there are a lot more chargers on my routes than I had initially thought, and it only required slight changes in my plans to use them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: hybrids are not EVs. Battery EVs are the only EVs in my book.
The chinese agree and are calling them NEV’s (new energy vehicles)
https://www.byd.com/uk/electric-cars/what-is-a-nev
Not to be confused with ‘neighbourhood electric vehicle’, NEV stands for ‘New Energy Vehicle’ and is a term used to describe all types of electric vehicles, from battery-powered fully electric vehicles to plug-in hybrid cars.
“The Chinese” is just BYD, to lump together EV and ICE plug-in-hybrid vehicle sales in a bigger sum. Purely marketing strategy.
Gatekeeping is silly over this. PHEVS are EVs with a hybrid gas engine. They are also mild hybrids with a big battery.
They have battery electric drivetrains. Splitting hairs over this is a colossal waste of everyone’s time.
I respectfully disagree
