Why would I want a hybrid car?

[oldbrownhat]

If'n it involves charging a lithium-ion battery I ain't doing it. In my house/garage anyway. I have a neighbor with a new Jeep (the big one). She gets home when we are walking and plugs it in on her driveway. I still ain't doing it. Joe

Is this because of stories of EV's catching fire? Hard to know what to make of that. There have been some instances reported but they haven't been given much media traction, maybe because they've been pretty rare and maybe there have been extenuating circumstances that were not reported (?)

Given how hard it is to extinguish a lithium battery pack, it might be a concern, though. The big problem is that the batteries are in a sealed container and it's impossible to get the veryconsiderable amount of water required onto the actual batteries to cool them and control thermal runaway. One manufacturer of commercial firefighting equipment has come up with a very high-pressure water nozzle that can penetrate the battery compartment for this reason.

If fire really is a significant risk, I'd think that the battery compartments might have to be made in such a way as to for proper extinguishing, and/or a mandatory extinguishing system being installed. Which will of course put up the price even more....

 

[Telecaster]

EV = plug in
PHEV = plug in or motor or brakes charge the battery
Hybrid = motor or brakes charge the battery.
All run on fossil fuels, nuclear, or hydroelectric.

Towing with an EV greatly shortens the range, as does cold weather operation. They're really just city toys to show off with, which is fine as long as one knows that.

 

[IAM Rand]

If you are concerned about reliability then I don't think you should be worried. I bought my father's 2007 Camry Hybrid and loved it. In town I would get about 1 month on a tank. Mainly work and grocery driving. Work was not that far away but, still loved only filling up once a month. I did have to get a new battery in 2020 but, that is 13 years later. You have to buy new batteries for flashlights, even rechargeable. Just a fact of life.

We ended up getting a Subaru Impreza. Like it but, don't love it. I have been trying to get my wife to trade it in on a new Camry Hybrid but, she is too concerned about the unstable times and doesn't want that expense.

The new Camry Hybrids get fantastic gas mileage and still is peppy. Hybrid is the wave of the future even though it has been around for awhile.

Be more concerned about all electric, not Hybrid.

 

[TeamPB]

Hybrid is a strong maybe.
More likely to make a used high end ICE purchase soon.
EV is a strong no.

The nuns in my grade school taught us more than how to read and add: there is no free lunch, Ponzi schemes end badly, bad morals are better than no morals and never trust the government.

I won't list my anti BEV arguments. I just have a list with two columns, one side BEV positives, the other side negatives. The BEV math does not work for me.

96% of BEV owners have at least one other ICE vehicle.

 

[DesertFox]

I read the technical stuff on the Ford electric truck. Mostly for those who want a pickup to pose with rather than haul. Per the published spec, the base line truck counldn't tow. If you upgraded the battery pack so you could tow, a 14 foot skiff and a case of beer would be your "payload" if you were anorexic. An independent towing test on one was pretty negative.

Per the ads, Ford appeared to have done one thing right. It looks like the battery pack was bolted to the frame from below, making changes relatively easy.

A hybrid truck might work, but it'd be really, really bad to run out of juice on some steep grades I know of with a significant load. They seem to be avoiding the locomotive model: engine runs a generator that runs the electric motors. Dunno if there's a battery pack for surges.

Feel uniquely qualified to chime in here as I just got a '23 Lightning, replacing a '21 Powerboost hybrid. There are certainly pros and cons on all sides. First, toss out any ideas that we're saving the planet by everyone going EV. Simpleton thinking as the juice has to come from somewhere as does the raw materials.

Have an '18 Volt, which is hybrid done right but just not taken far enough. The '25 RAM 1500 is supposed to take it to the next level with a huge battery, plug in (so it is eligible for tax credits), 6 cylinder engine that can fully recharge the battery while driving and work in tandem with the electric motor when max power is needed. Lots can happen between now and then but this hybrid that is self-recharging is the ticket.

The Lightning is a great fit for certain instances. Around town, trips to Home Depot to pick up sheets of plywood, under 50mph with lots of breaking for regen - does great. Motoring 80mph down the freeway on EV power is not its strong suit. It can do it well, just not efficient for very far. With its torque and weight, the Lightning tows very well but the boat launch better be in your yard or neighborhood as you won't be towing very far.

Performance is intoxicating. Thing launches off the line and will similarly go from 50mph to 106mph in an instant. Amazing for an un-aerodynamic brick. Skateboard design with the battery pack makes for low center of gravity.

Independent suspension at each corner is what makes this F150 handle far differently than the ICE F150. Not quite BMW handling but very much better than a normal F150.

There's a seat for every butt and the Lightning may be far from perfect but will find a few butts.

 

[LVSteve]

Since VW killed the diesel market the only way to get range and city economy is the hybrid. My turbo-diesel BMW gets over 45 mpg on the highway, and does better than 30 mpg even with heavy city use. If you do nearly all your driving on a freeway, there are plenty of economical gas cars out there.

Note that I said cars. You can never get true economy from an SUV or a truck. Too much frontal area and an aerodynamically inefficient shape gets you every time. My SUV is the last of the V6 turbo-diesel Mercs, which compensates for these issues to some degree. It gets 23-24 mpg around town and 27 mpg on the highway. My old Xterra broke 21 mpg once with observance of the speed limits and diligent use of the cruise control. Around town it got 17 mpg. My wife's vehicle is the typical modern 2.0 turbo gas AWD SUV, and gets pretty good mileage given the amount of lead in her stilettos. Driven with moderate restraint on the highway it gets close to the magic 30 mpg.

 

[swsig]

My 14 year experience with a Lexus hybrid

I bought a Lexus RX450h hybrid in January, 2010, and it is still going strong. It's still solid as a bank vault after 14 years with nary a squeak or rattle. The only problem I ever had with it was that the rear hatch struts failed after 3 years, but they were replaced under warranty. It still has its original NiMH hybrid battery. (I'll never have a lithium ion battery in my garage.) Fuel mileage is 25-26 mpg. That's a 3-5 mpg improvement over the non-hybrid RX350 but it's nowhere near the EPA estimate of 33 mpg. The only time I got the EPA mpg was on the long downhill run from Flagstaff to Kingman, where I was coasting much of the way. But 25 mpg is still pretty good for a two-ton SUV.

Where the RX450h stands out is performance. The electric motor generates maximum torque at 1 rpm and adds enough instant power to the ICE so that it accelerates like my old Chevy 396, but with more than twice the mpg. Accelerating onto the freeway is an absolute blast, more than making up for its less-than-EPA mpg. And for some reason, the 2010 RX450h came standard with a sport suspension and low-profile tires, so handling is way better than most SUVs. Finally, it's a very well-balanced vehicle: a great long distance cruiser and an excellent around-town grocery getter, so I'm going to keep it for a while, despite its age.

So bottom line, don't fear the hybrid. You can find some excellent models out there, if you do your research. I bought mine for its fuel mileage, which was OK, but ended up liking it for its performance. And any tax breaks you may get are merely frosting on the cake.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I am certain my next conveyance will be electric.

 

[Farmer17]

The last time I looked at buying a used car the same model car with a hybrid engine sold cheaper than the gasoline vehicle. If the battery is dead you should be able to drive it just like the same "gasoline only" car so it should not be cheaper. This tells me that repairs on hybrids are probably a lot higher because the brakes run a magneto that charges the battery and that probably makes brake repairs a lot more expensive. Some electrical repairs are probably more expensive also than a gasoline only car. Whats nice about the new hybrids is they combine the gas and electric motor at the same time and give the car a lot more horsepower and acceleration. Many manufactureres are putting wimpy gas engines in cars and if you want more horsepower you can't buy an optional turbo or bigger engine you MUST buy a hybrid. My daughter just bought a new Hyundai Tuscon SUV that's a great car in every way but lacks a little bit of power. The only option is to spend several thousands on the Hybrid model and she elected to just stay with the gas version and tolerate mediocre acceleration.

 

[Oldengineer]

Federal regulations are failed designs. Selling hybrids may not be good/profitable business since they have 2 powertrains.

 

[ladder13]

At my other house, in Japan, we have a hybrid, a Toyota Aqua, or Prius C as it is known here. Bought new in 2012, it gets over 50 MPG. The advantage over an internal combustion age is gas milage. While the Aqua is pretty anemic in acceleration, especially at highway speed — 99 screamin' horses — it'll cruise all day at 70. Main downside as a highway car is noise. Hard to hear. It's a small, very light car. We sold our Lexus SUV and bought it when we moved to a small town with very narrow streets when I retired. It's a good car for our purposes there.

Not all hybrids are anemic though. Check out this 2024 Corvette:

...The 2024 E-Ray compounds this notion with a first-ever all-wheel drive system fitted to any Chevrolet performance model, working in step with an electrically assisted V8 catapulting the E-Ray to an American production car first of 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds. A number that could, in fact, be lower when customers get their hands on it....

These Are The Fastest Hybrid Cars in 2023

So with the new Corvette, I think you would buy a hybrid because you wanted to go real fast in an extremely cool looking car.

We saw the Eray this summer in PA with the chief engineer describing the mechanics. Not a plug in, the battery regenerates itself. It won’t really run far on battery alone, it’s way too small. IIRC, a couple miles.
The goal was making the car AWD with incredible acceleration and road handling, that has been accomplished.

Still fossil powered.

 

[Kinman]

We bought my wife a new Camry Hybrid back in 2008, she can have whatever she wants and has owned a series of Mercedes 190E's, and an Acura hot rod that my son and I talked her into. We tested everything available for 2008 after her enjoyment of the Acura finally got the best of her (she hated the blind spot at the B pillar) She fell in love with the Camry on the first drive experience and has not fallen out of love with it since. I took it in yesterday for its 70K mile checkup which required more than a quick oil change, included in this check up is coolant for the Hybrid battery pack. No significant issues requiring repair, just filters, fluids. This vehicle has not required any maintenance repairs in those years, it is a very low mileage vehicle at 65K. Every time I drive it I am impressed with how smooth it is, the CVT tranny works flawlessly, the Hybrid system takes some getting used to but if you mash the throttle down it scoots, otherwise it is very smooth and seamless in operation. I've owned two Highlanders and swear by them, roughly the same in operation, plenty of power and smooth. I hesitated to purchase a Hybrid model on the first model which was a 1998 I believe, first year for the Hybrid Highlander due to newness. The last model is a 2019 and the Hybrid feature was more money than I really wanted to spend for what it would deliver in savings, I don't drive enough to justify the expense.

 

[venomballistics]

Ford leaned nothing from the Edsel fiasco. All the market research in the world was just flat out wrong.

They've learned nothing from anything.
Any worthwhile technology they've ever offered has been limited production then left to die on the vine. All the while, ignoring the success of those who ran with it.

 

[venomballistics]

We saw the Eray this summer in PA with the chief engineer describing the mechanics. Not a plug in, the battery regenerates itself. It won’t really run far on battery alone, it’s way too small. IIRC, a couple miles.
The goal was making the car AWD with incredible acceleration and road handling, that has been accomplished.

Still fossil powered.

Essentially the Audi approach to a race hybrid.
Audi dominated Lemans with it, proving it's the right thing to do, and the right way to do it.

 

[LVSteve]

They've learned nothing from anything.

They certainly haven't learned anything about assembling a quality interior, judging by the last two new Fords at work. It would have been three, but one guy searched the dealer lot specifically to find an F-150 with a properly built interior.

 

[venomballistics]

They certainly haven't learned anything about assembling a quality interior, judging by the last two new Fords at work. It would have been three, but one guy searched the dealer lot specifically to find an F-150 with a properly built interior.

The best interior they ever did was in the Fox body.
They didn't seem to try in anything else, and eventually gave up on that too.
As I scanned the vehicle market earlier this year, I was really disappointed by the blue ovals offerings.
Mustangs and varying degrees of misery.
If the pony won't work for you, you want something else.

 

[soFlaNative]

They certainly haven't learned anything about assembling a quality interior, judging by the last two new Fords at work. It would have been three, but one guy searched the dealer lot specifically to find an F-150 with a properly built interior.

This one looks kinda nice...

 

[outta_ammo]

I am SO tired of the handwringing related to anything that hasn't been around for at least 50 years! I love my plug-in-hybrid Prius. I spend virtually nothing on gas.

The EV haters like to tell you how the manufacturing of these vehicles generates 60% more gasses than ICE vehicles. What they ignore is that within 2 years of normal use, you've offset that deficit and from there on you're all positive.

By all means, continue to spew carbon.

Ya, I'm probably out of here. And many, probably most of you, will probably rejoice because you don't do well with anyone who doesn't completely share your views. So much for brothers in arms...

 

[Farmer17]

I paid $2.69 a gallon for gas today and my gasoline Ram pickup gets about 21mpg in the city. The hybrid sounds great if you need more horsepower occasionally for passing but for towing my ski boat it would deplete the battery quickly. For me personally I don't see a need to spend several thousands extra on a hybrid and the additional maintenance and repairs but I might look at buying one someday if the long term cost of ownership for me is less. I like high tech stuff if I don't have to figure out how to use it.

 

[BC38]

IMO the question is "why would I want an all electric vehicle (EV)".

AFAIAC "hybrids" - which can operate as an electric vehicle OR as a gas-powered vehicle - are the best of both worlds.

They have a smaller battery that can power the vehicle for 30-40 miles - which is more than enough range for running errands around town, but they also have a gasoline engine that can take over when the battery is drained - which makes them work equally well when you need to go for a longer-distance trip.

The best hybrids have the ability to recharge their own battery while they are being driven on the gasoline engine. Basically a true hybrid is a self-charging EV that lets you have the best of both worlds.

I'm seriously considering a hybrid for my next vehicle, but you couldn't GIVE me an electric-only (EV) vehicle.