Here comes the flood of plug-in hybrids

Here comes the flood of plug-in hybrids.

Because of the new rules in the US about pollution, more plug-in hybrid cars will be made. The science behind electric cars is clean, but there is a catch.

PHOTOGRAPH: TOYOTA

Last week, the Biden government made it official: electric cars are really coming to the United States.

This rule from the US Environmental Protection Agency finally came out after a long time of work. It will require companies in the US to sell a lot more battery-powered cars this decade. This will really help cut down on the country’s carbon emissions. By 2032, more than half of all new cars sold will have to be electric.

The rules have been changed since they were first sketched out almost a year ago. The government’s new goals for tailpipe pollution will now give automakers more ways to meet those goals. One big thing has changed: plug-in hybrids are now in the picture.

In the first draft of the rule, cars with batteries were the only way for automakers to meet the stricter zero-emissions goals. But unions and companies pushed for this because they thought the EPA’s plans were too strict. This means that manufacturers can now use plug-in hybrids to comply with the rules.

Now automakers can follow federal rules and make sure that two-thirds of their 2032 sales are battery electric, or that just over half of their sales are battery electric cars and 13% are plug-in hybrids.

As automakers rush to meet the nation’s most ambitious climate goals yet, you can expect them to use these hybrid cars, which run mostly on electric batteries but also have a gas engine for when the batteries run out.

You’ll see a lot of these things on the road. The technology is bad because it doesn’t protect the earth as much as its users would like it to.

Gateway EV Drug

Some executives from Audi, BMW, General Motors, Mercedes, Volvo, and BYD, a Chinese EV maker, have recently said that “compromise” cars might be a way to get more people and cars to move to electric power. Toyota has bet that people will choose gas-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrids over fully electric cars like Tesla. The policy change could be good for them.

Sales of plug-in hybrids are rising faster around the world than sales of battery-electric cars. They have to cover more ground, which is one reason for this. A company called BloombergNEF does market research. They say that between 2022 and 2023, sales of plug-in hybrids rose by 43%, up to almost 4.2 million units. About 9.6 million battery-electric cars were sold, which is a 28% increase from the same time last year.

There are many good things about technology. In the US, most people only drive 30 miles a day. In other words, most people could get by with just the electric pack in a plug-in hybrid. They would only need gas for longer trips.

Plug-in hybrids also help some automakers feel less stressed when they’re making cars. Because they have two motors, they cost more to make than battery-only electrics. However, the technology can sometimes be added to gas-powered cars that are already parked. This is good news for an industry that needs to change how it makes cars and where it gets battery materials in the next few decades as cars become more electric. Soon, this will mean less work.

Plug-In Hybrid and Electric Vehicle

Gil Tal is in charge of running the Plug-In Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis. He says, “Automakers now have a few more years to finish their full electric lineup.”

Some people also believe that plug-in hybrids are a good way for people who are still scared of new engines to get used to them. According to Bjorn Annwall, chief marketing officer and deputy CEO of Volvo, a lot of people buy a plug-in hybrid as their first step toward fully electric cars and then buy a fully electric car as their next car. He said this on a call with investors last month. His words also included the phrase “show more love and care for the cars with smart investments.”

But research from Europe, where plug-in hybrids have been around longer, shows that it’s not quite that easy. Patrick Plotz is a researcher at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) who looks into how to make transportation more electric. He says that some people who drive plug-in hybrids use their time with them to get used to charging them. Once they’re ready, they switch to all-battery cars.

However, some drivers say “it’s the worst of both sides,” especially those who drive plug-in cars with batteries that don’t have as much range. Some of these drivers are most comfortable with gas-powered cars.

Bad Plug-In Behavior

How people use plug-in cars impacts how green they are and how much pollution they create. Usually, energy can power them. Researchers have found, though, that some drivers don’t charge their cars enough, so the batteries die, and they mostly use gas. Therefore, more carbon dioxide is released during their trips. The people driving those cars might as well be using engines with fuel.

Scientist Tal from UC Davis says that after looking at how plug-in hybrid users act, he believes that fully battery-electric cars are the best option for people who want to quickly reduce their carbon emissions. His thought about a “gateway electric” is old. He states, “I don’t see plug-in hybrids as a way to get to fully electric cars; I see them as something extra.”

The US EPA tried to make environmentalists and car lobbyists happy with the new rule on tailpipe emissions by saying that driving a plug-in hybrid does not always produce no emissions. David Reichmuth is a senior engineer who works on transportation issues for the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental research and advocacy group. According to him, the government’s regulations are based on the notion that people will become more adept at plugging in their cars over time.

Might things move more slowly if car companies focus on plug-in hybrids? Reichmuth supposes it is. “But in the end, the new rules on emissions are still a huge step forward.”