Why a Plug-In Hybrid May Be the Right Car for You (Consumer Reports)
consumerreports.org
A pretty good overview of the benefits of PHEV, one of the fastest growing categories of cars in the USA today.
The tl;dr: Cheaper than EVs, takes gasoline for long-trips, are effectively electric for typical distances (~20mi to ~40mi depending on model).
However, I'd like to add that PHEVs are incredibly varied. Everyone can agree that a Prius Prime is efficient and environmental, but PHEVs like the Jeep Wrangler 4xe is incredibly inefficient. Furthermore, Jeep buyers have a reputation of not even charging the batteries!!
All in all, it seems like a good article so I feel like its worth sharing.
Huh, most of the comments I’ve seen from Jeep 4xe owners have been that they haven’t bought gas in months and specifically plan trips to use their gas so it doesn’t go bad.
Really? On just 26mi all-electric range?
The big thing I hear about Jeep 4xe is 4-wheel drive, strong torque for great off-roading performance, and... well... "Jeep" things if I'm honest. It sounds like Jeep 4xe is a "great Jeep" that happens to have PHEV / Hybrid to save some amount of gasoline. But as far as Hybrid/PHEVs go, its horribly inefficient. Its range is terrible. Its reliability sucks. Etc. etc.
I know for myself, I'd only be able to use a Jeep's EV in substantial EV-mode if I somehow got the (very few) chargers at my work every day, and charged both nightly (full charge at home) + at work. 26mi is just not enough for my daily drive. (I have to imagine most people drive more than 13mi to work each day?). But maybe that's not the case for everyone.
Still, Jeep is so inefficient under regular use, that having any number of EV miles added on every day is of clear substantial benefit to the Jeep user. And Jeep never was an efficient brand or car, so the Jeep fans never cared about that. Instead, hearing about powerful low-end torque for optimal trekking performance is what the Jeep fanbois love to hear about.
I haven’t paid a lot of attention to PHEVs but I thought 25-30 miles of pure electric range was pretty standard. I work from home now so I don’t have a commute, but my last job was 9 miles away so it would’ve been fine; actually I think I remember their all electric range might be even lower than you’re quoting, because when I bought my Gladiator I considered the 4xe a little bit and had figured that I might have to use gas a little most days, depending on how far I went for lunch. It would make even more sense for me now; getting the kid to/from school, going to the grocery store, etc., would all be in pure electric range for me. I suppose commute distance is one are where YMMV, literally.
Supposedly a Gladiator 4xe is coming in MY2025 along with a mid-cycle refresh. I don’t like the look of the new grille but I’ll probably still look into it when they come out because of the PHEV, although not necessarily the first year. Whatever funky color they offer might decide what year I would actually take a serious look at one.
It still boggles my mind that the Jeep Wrangler 4xe became America’s best-selling PHEV last year, especially seeing the blowback from a certain segment of Jeep fans when it was first announced.
Yeah, some PHEVs are stuck in the 20mi range. But many have broken 30mi and some are even 40mi range.
Wow, they’re closing in on 1st generation BEV ranges now! That’s really impressive considering how much space they usually have for the batteries!
26 miles is unreasonably low. Quick googling says the average US commute is 41 miles, which is why most PHEVs are around that or higher, and even the Nissan Leaf had 75 miles initially. Also to remember, cold weather will drop that capacity by ~30%.
I'm split.
I don't want perfect to be the enemy of good. 17.6kw-hr saves more than a gallon of gasoline per full charge. Which is plenty of savings and obviously a good thing.
Obviously it's be nicer if they saved more, but note that the 13kW-hr on a Prius Prime saves less than a gallon of fuel per charge (mostly because Prius Prime is so damn efficient).
In some ways, the Jeep getting electrified with these stats saves more gasoline than the Prius.
Consumer reports feel like they have a significant bias against battery electric vehicles to be honest, so i'd take everything adjacent with a grain of salt.
Survey results pointing to shoddy reliability is... not a bias though. Its just the facts for now.
Consumer Reports always favored reliability / low-maintenance above all else. They don't care very much about speed or zoom-zoom factor. If a car does poorly their reliability metrics, they'll shit on that car.
Hopefully EV makers improve their reliability over time.
I’m thinking that will go up as the legacy manufacturers build more models. They just have to learn the new power train; they already know how to build cars. The startups are having to learn how to do everything, which gives them a lot more places to fail. I’m sure EV reliability metrics are not being helped by Tesla’s current market dominance.