is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
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How it started
Apologies to the Toyota Prius, but the first hybrid vehicle of note was the Semper Vivus, developed by Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) way back in 1900. The Semper Vivus (Latin for “always alive”) used two combustion engines to power generators, which then fed electricity to motors inside the wheel hubs. The fact that it took modern engineers over a century to really appreciate the merging of internal combustion engines with electric power is a sign that ingenuity isn’t always a foregone conclusion in the automotive world.
Car companies are now trying to make up for lost time. Thanks to stagnating EV sales, hybrid vehicles are experiencing a major surge in popularity, with sales reaching record levels in 2024 and 2025. Hybrids are often held up as a stepping stone between the gas-driven cars of yesterday and the fully electric ones of tomorrow. Plug-in hybrids can offer 20–60 miles of electric-only driving for daily use, plus a gas engine for longer trips or when they can’t recharge. And as EV growth slows down, many automakers clearly see hybrids — and more specifically, plug-in hybrids (PHEV) — as a better fit for America’s fluctuating tastes. To give you a sense of where things are heading: The Toyota RAV4, America’s most popular vehicle of any type, is now only available in hybrid trims.
But cracks are starting to show in that market as well. Without strict fuel economy standards or EV tax credits, some automakers are shifting away from PHEVs. Jeep, for example, recently axed its PHEV models, despite being among the best-selling plug-in hybrids in the country. More recently, automakers are flocking to extended-range EVs (EREVs), which use small gas engines to recharge an EV-sized battery for added range.
But in order for plug-in hybrids to deliver on the promise of reduced emissions and better gas mileage, they need to be plugged in. Don’t plug them in, and you’re left with a heavier, potentially more polluting gas car.
How it’s going
On the question of whether people are actually plugging in their PHEVs, the research isn’t very promising. Numerous studies have shown that plug-in hybrid owners often neglect to charge their batteries, defeating the purpose of owning a vehicle that’s capable of driving emission-free.
In 2024, telematics and fleet management company Geotab analyzed 1,776 PHEVs used in commercial fleets. It found that North American fleet operators relied on gas for 86 percent of their total energy needs, suggesting they were failing to charge their batteries enough to run on electric-power only. Also PHEVs delivered an average fuel efficiency of 1.6 gallons every 62 miles (100 km), translating to about 37 miles per gallon. That’s only a smidge lower than the average fuel efficiency of gas equivalents, which consumed 1.8 gallons every 62 miles, or 33.1mpg.
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