Hybrids vs Plug-in Hybrids

There is a Difference

SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY

Hybrid (HEV) vs Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV)

I wrote about hybrids like the Toyota Prius earlier in “Hybrids are a Pretty Good Compromise”.

CarAndDriver also has a good piece on this.

Car and Driver explains the similarities between hybrid vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV).

“Both powertrains have Hybrid in their official names, and that indicates they share a core engineering philosophy and operational motif—up to a point. They both use an internal-combustion engine and an electric motor for propulsion, with the electric motor going it alone when accelerating from rest and the gasoline engine joining as speed builds—mechanically, in parallel hybrids; by driving a generator, in series hybrids…Both are equally dependent on regenerative braking (regen) to convert forward momentum into electricity when the driver wants to slow or arrest a vehicle's descent on a hill. This harvested energy is saved in a small battery that's little bigger than 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh), a sufficient size because that saved energy will be immediately reused the next time the driver accelerates. In stop-and-go city driving, opportunities to top up the battery via regen happen constantly, which is why both types have unusually high city MPG.”

They also explain the differences.

“In plug-in hybrids, that small battery still exists, but it's more of a theoretical reserve set aside within a much larger battery. How much larger is a PHEV's battery? On the order of 10 to 20 times the size of a hybrid's battery.”

My take

A plug-in hybrid costs more than a hybrid, for the car itself, a garage recharging plug setup (if you want 220V charging), and for battery replacement. For example, the Toyota Prius hybrid starts at about $27,950 and the Plug-in hybrid, which they call the “Prime”, starts at about $32,975. The extra cost for a plug-in is partially wasted if you’ll be driving more than the 30-45 mile range of the larger battery, and there is little advantage during times of power outages, which I expect to be more frequent in the next few years, due to the decreasing reliability and increasing vulnerability of the electric power grid.

A plug-in is also significantly heavier due to the much larger battery, so its tire wear and resulting air pollution is much greater.

Since the battery in a plug-in is 10-20 times larger, its replacement cost will be much higher, and we’re learning that EV lithium-ion batteries aren’t lasting very long – many have to be replaced in about 8 years, especially if you want maximum efficiency. However, Toyota hybrids have a 10 year, 150,000 mile warranty which includes battery replacement. Understand that even if the battery does not fail, you have to expect decreasing efficiency with age. This will show up in shorter range and less savings on gas.

However, a plug-in hybrid PHEV could possibly be worth the extra cost for someone who hardly ever drives more than the battery’s range, because of savings on gas.

The Toyota RAV4 Prime has an 18.1 kWh 335 V lithium-ion battery. This gives a range of up to 42 miles of pure electric driving range.

effect of electricity rates

The rapid rise of electric rates is affecting the practicality of EVs. One of the main motivators for people who buy EVs is to save on gas. Electric rates have been climbing as much as 20%/year recently, and gasoline prices have not been rising, so there’s not much incentive to switch from gas to electric any more.

The Hill did a piece on this in January. Writing about the de-industrialization of Europe caused by huge increases in the cost of electric power, Mario Loyola adds:

“America has thus far been spared similar pain, but alas, it is headed down the same road. Buffeted by the anti-fossil fuel policies of the Biden administration and states such as California and New York, average electricity prices in the U.S. have risen 30 percent since the start of 2021. That has contributed to cumulative inflation of 25 percent since President Biden’s inauguration, wiping out a generation of wage gains for American workers.

Making matters worse, Biden’s proposed electric vehicle mandates would significantly add to electricity demand, and his new power plant rules would force many coal and natural gas plants to shutter. If implemented, the new rules would wreck America’s electricity grid and make American electricity prices even more expensive than Europe’s.”

The worst case is California, (in red,below) thanks to their very woke policies of anti-fossil fuels.

FINANCE and INVESTING

EVs vs hybrids

From “EV Euphoria is Dead” - “Automakers are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans” by Stu Turley of Energy News Beat, 3/13/24:

Tesla slowdown

3/13/24 - “It’s not a new story that Tesla is no longer a red-hot growth stock. But even by that standard and with its growth forecasts sinking rapidly, a grim sales prediction from a key analyst of Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker was still shocking. There’ll be zero growth in sales volumes for the electric-vehicle maker this year, Wells Fargo’s Colin Langan said Wednesday. And in 2025, it’ll be worse yet: volumes will drop. Shares of the company reacted appropriately, dropping 4.5% to close at a 10-month low. The stock has now fallen 32% this year, missing out on a broader rally that has pushed the S&P 500 Index up 8.3%”. 

some solar companies biting the dust

Popular Mechanics March 12 2024 - “In 2023 alone, around 100 residential solar dealers declared bankruptcy, often because solar companies rely on dizzying funding schemes or got caught in some less-than-reputable sales tactics.”

bitcoin

The price of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value, reached an all-time high of $73,000 the other day before retreating. The digital asset has risen over 400% since sinking as low as $13K in November 2022 amid the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Observers attribute the surge to new investor-friendly exchange-traded funds of the coin as well as to a much-anticipated halving event next month that will lead to an expected drop in the bitcoin supply.

“Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency built on secure blockchain technology and has a market value of roughly $1.35T. Bitcoin "miners," who use energy-intensive computer rigs to identify the next coded block in the chain, receive rewards via new bitcoin—currently 6.25 BTC (how mining works). The amount of this reward has halved every four years, in accordance with the protocol initiated by pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Read Nakamoto's white paper here.  

Roughly 94% of all bitcoins—out of 21 million—have been produced so far. Analysts predict the coin will be fully mined by 2140.”

But of course investing in bitcoin is plenty risky - we still don’t know how it’s going to hold up in the future, and it has a volatile history so far. Last year, I wrote about the risks here.

FAITH and CHRISTIANITY

If you have read “Is Human Life Sacred”, you may be interested in getting into the “good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7) by contributing to and praying for organizations on the front lines, like Heartbeat International, the Center for Medical Progress, and Preborn.