WHY IT WAS A BIG MISTAKE TO OVERLOOK HYBRIDS AND GO ALL-ELECTRIC

"The future is now, old man!" is a sentiment EV makers would have liked you to believe some 10 years ago. But, as the present has crept up and the real-world has taken its toll, it seems the futuristic and supposedly clean-driving EV isn't nearly as viable as we were once led to believe. After all, it can't do what an ICE-powered vehicle or a hybrid can nearly as well. Not to mention, the EV can also get ridiculously expensive should you need to replace its vital battery pack.

We've had better tech all along when it comes to cleaner-driving vehicles and better mpg. That's right, it's the humble hybrid and PHEV, or plug-in hybrid, that have come to the rescue. The rescue needing to be done is saving us, the end user, from the narrative that electric vehicles are the ideal replacement currently. After all, the hybrid and its sub-variants can do most of what an EV can do regarding saving us money at the pumps for a lot less initial investment.

Recently, quite a few legacy automakers such as Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz have walked back their individual electrification targets, with the latter going so far as to completely abandon their MB.EA electric vehicle platform based on slow sales of current EV models. So, let's look at how and why the hybrid was seemingly skipped over in favor of the EV, and why electrification has begun falling out of fashion so soon after it came onto the scene.

All The Automakers That Have Backpedaled Or Pushed Back EV Production

A lot has changed in the last few years with many big name brands changing trajectory.

This Is What's Wrong With EVs

Some Key EV Faults

First, let's flesh out exactly what's wrong with EV as a whole. For starters, the electric vehicle is often more expensive to purchase than your typical ICE-powered or hybrid vehicle. Take the Volvo EX30, for example. It's a compact crossover SUV with electric powertrain. At base level, it costs $36,275 for 275 miles of driving range. Contrarily, you can buy a new, base-level Buick Encore for just over $26,000. Factor in the Encore's 30 mpg combined via FuelEconomy.gov and its 13.3-gallon fuel tank, and you'll average 396 miles per tank of fuel.

Even with the example provided above, the EV doesn't make a lot of sense financially. Another large reason EVs don't deserve the attention they've received is the issue of range anxiety. As we mentioned above, it's such a common problem that the term "range anxiety" has become synonymous with EV ownership, especially if you're required to commute. There's nothing worse than getting into your car in the morning and seeing you'd forgotten to fuel up after work the day before. However, in a gasoline-powered vehicle, you can just hot-foot it over to the gas station, splash a couple gallons of gas in, and be on your way. If you've neglected to charge your battery-powered future car overnight and need to get to work, it looks like you're calling your boss and letting him know you'll be quite late.

Road trips are also complicated in EVs, especially when traveling across the country. There may be ample charging stations in Los Angeles or New York City, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one in a town like Crisp, Texas.

Why The Hybrid/PHEV Is Better In Most Ways

Better Range

The biggest reason hybrids and PHEVs are better than EVs is the sheer amount of miles you can drive between fill-ups in some hybrid models. On average, an electric vehicle's driving range is about 300 miles on a single charge when driving on the highway, and near 275 miles when driving in both city and highway situations. Of course, some EVs differ, but by-and-large, you can expect those figures to be accurate.

Hybrids, on the other hand, can go much further. Let's compare the extremely popular Toyota Prius hybrid's range to the electric BMW i4 eDrive35's. The electrified Beamer can manage roughly 275 miles on a single charge. As for the Prius, it can muster quite a bit more. Thanks to its 57 mpg combined and 11.3-gallon fuel tank, you can expect 644 miles on a single tank. That's nearly three times the range. Not to mention, once you've driven those 644 miles, tanking up at the gas station only takes a few minutes, as opposed to an hour or more of charging to get back to full range in an EV.

Cheaper To Repair

Now, the cost to repair a vehicle is largely subjective. It all depends on the type of repair needed, the parts to complete said repair, and the labor involved. However, let's focus on repairing a vehicle following a crash. On average, the cost to repair an EV comes out to roughly $6,587, whereas the average cost to repair all other vehicle types is $4,215, according to CCC Intelligent Solutions. The difference in post-accident repair costs lies in the EV's expensive battery pack.

Kinder To The Environment

On average, the humble ice-powered or ice-assisted car is responsible for producing roughly 24 tons of CO2 over its lifetime, while the EV contributes roughly 18 tons. In this context, the electric vehicle stands above the combustion or hybrid-powered vehicle in terms of environmental impact. However, CO2 emissions aren't the only thing to look at regarding a vehicle's eco-consciousness.

Contrary to what you've probably been told a million times, EVs are not nice to the environment and the reason is due to the batteries used to power the EV. The process to make these batteries starts with the mining of necessary materials. EV batteries are largely made up of lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, all of which wreak havoc on the environment when dug out of the ground. Areas where these elements are mined are frequently subject to extremely poor air quality and acid rain.

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When Will EV Adoption Actually Make Sense?

When you think of world-changing innovations like electricity, which allowed people all over the world to stop living in darkness and paved the road for modern life as we know it, they immediately caught on because they fundamentally changed life for the better. The automobile as a whole fits into this category as well. The days of relying on horseback to get ourselves somewhere are well behind us, and we can sit in relative comfort on padded seats and with air conditioning to get to our destination faster, easier, and safer.

The EV hasn't reached this stage of worldwide, blanket lifestyle improvement. They get, on average, less driving range, are harder and more tedious to refuel, and come with a whole host of anxieties surrounding range, repair, and safety. We mustn't forget what can happen when an EV is involved in an accident, either. In order for the EV to be entirely viable to replace the ice-powered car by-and-large, it will need to do everything a conventional vehicle can do, but better. That means going well beyond being quieter and producing less harmful C02 emissions than traditional and hybrid-powered vehicles.