Quote:
Originally Posted by SamS
As someone who actually bought one of BMW's ActiveHybrid vehicles, it's my view that hybrids are actually the worst of both worlds. Now that battery tech has advanced to product affordable >200mi range vehicles, and gas is cheap (for now), a hybrid just adds complexity and offers none of the benefits of going gas-free.
Why bother plugging in every night (BMW's strategy) to get only 25 miles of range? You still have to go get gas, change oil, etc. If you're gonna plug in, just plug in and get the full/pure BEV experience.
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It really depends on what your needs are, but I'm pretty happy with my 530e PHEV. And I'm in a very challenging situation from an EV perspective in that I had to bust up a sidewalk to get my EV charger installed curbside so I can charge on a public street in a major US city*. For me in the city, the EV range is more than worth plugging in every night. The charged capacity alongside regenerative braking allows me to drive on electric only for 90% of my drives. Only when I'm doing longer drives do I have to drop off and use gas. Oh, and the electric charges are only about $1 from a flat battery and even with today's cheap gas prices still is cheaper than gas.
* IMHO city drivers are the ones who would benefit from PHEV or BEV vehicles the most due to the constant stop and go traffic that EV excel at and the quietness will help city Quality of Life as well. That being said, installing a charger curbside like I did isn't a realistic solution. A much better solution would be installing EV chargers on every street using existing wiring on street lights and charging EV drivers the wholesale electricity cost to charge to move us past the infrastructure problem.