Plug-in hybrids gain ground in car sales

In late 2010, General Motors sought to seize the high ground from Toyota’s successful Prius hybrid with the Volt plug-in hybrid — a car that could drive short distances on only electricity and fire up a gasoline engine for long trips.

But the Volt and other cars like it struggled to win over drivers, as many early adopters opted for fully electric cars like Tesla’s Model S and the Nissan Leaf. GM quietly did away with the Volt in 2019 as it trained its sights on all-electric cars.

But a funny thing happened on the way to obsolescence: Plug-in hybrid sales are climbing in the United States, in part because of the recent surge in gasoline prices.

Automakers sold a record 176,000 such cars last year, according to Wards Intelligence, up from 69,000 in 2020. This year, sales of plug-in hybrids could reach 180,000, analysts said, even as the overall newcar market drops to 14.4 million from 15.3 million a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive.

All-electric cars have seized around 5 percent of the new-car market, and most analysts and industry executives expect them to eventually surpass hybrids as automakers commit to eliminating tailpipe emissions, a major contributor to climate change. But hybrids — led by a growing selection of plug-ins — still make up about 7 percent of sales, and that number could grow for at least a few years.

Unlike conventional hybrids, which can be refueled only with gasoline and are dependent on engines, plug-in varieties can operate entirely on battery propulsion. And because these cars have smaller batteries than all-electric vehicles, they can be more affordable.

“I think some automakers, including GM, have been far too quick to cast PHEVs aside in the face of all-electric vehicles,” said Karl Brauer, executive director of research at iSeeCars.com, a car research firm. “And I’m wondering if they are regretting that decision, given the supply chain issues and price hikes we’re now experiencing.”

Bauer and others also note that many car buyers are not ready to buy electric vehicles.

Not enough stations

A J.D. Power survey found that one of the biggest reasons people cite for not buying one is that there are not enough public charging stations in the United States. And charging an electric car at public stations for roughly 30 to 60 minutes — a typical rate for even the fastest chargers — or overnight at home is an inconvenience that many drivers are unwilling to tolerate.

Plug-in hybrids were designed as transitional technology that introduced people to the advantages of electric driving while easing their concerns about the technology. But when gasoline cost around $3 a gallon, the savings that these cars provided did not always add up.

Now, when gas fill-ups can cost $100 or more, some people are giving these cars a second look. It helps that buyers of some of the leading models, like the Toyota RAV4 Prime, Jeep Wrangler 4xe, BMW 330e and Hyundai Santa Fe plug-in, can claim a federal income tax credit of up to $7,500.

Gas? Don’t need it

Some owners of plug-in hybrids like the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, which has been around since 2017, claim that they have gone many weeks without visiting a gas station. According to the Energy Department, charging a RAV4 Prime costs about $1.07 for 25 miles’ worth of driving.

But critics of plug-in hybrids argue that these numbers and calculations are based on a presumption that the people who own them will plug them in regularly, taking full advantage of the environmental benefits of their electric motors and batteries.

Some plug-in hybrid owners may never or rarely charge their cars, using them as they would a gasoline-powered vehicle. Plug-in hybrids used in this way tend to achieve middling fuel economy and do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Some auto executives, including at GM, have argued that plug-in hybrids are not worth investing in because it is imperative to work on cars that have no tailpipe emissions. GM has said it aims to sell only zeroemissions vehicles by 2035.

Tim Grewe, GM’s director of electrification, said that as electric vehicles improved and charging infrastructure expanded, plug-in hybrids would become obsolete.

“EVs are just better,” Grewe said. “The battery tech has gotten to the point that you don’t need the range-extending engine.”

European countries, which are further along in the switch to electric cars than the United States, are also encouraging people to go fully electric. Partly as a result, sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles in Europe in the second quarter fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier, while purchases of all-electric cars jumped 11.1 percent.

Yet many automakers, like Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Jaguar Land Rover, continue to introduce new plug-in hybrids. These companies argue that it could take a decade or more before electric cars are affordable and convenient enough for most people.