THE MORNING RANT: Virtually No One Actually Charges Their Plug-In Hybrid EV

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ("PHEVs") may be the most preposterous product that was developed during the EV bubble and hype. They are a solution in search of a problem. (Plug-in hybrids are entirely different than traditional Prius-style hybrids, which are gasoline-powered vehicles that use regenerative braking to generate supplemental electricity for propulsion, but which cannot be externally charged like PHEVs.)

The argument for PHEVs is that they "solve" the range problem of pure battery electric vehicles ("BEVs") by having both a standard internal combustion engine ("ICE") and also a lithium-battery electric drivetrain, allowing them to be charged via a cord. But with two entirely separate engines under the hood, PHEVs have more ways to fail and a whole lot of extra weight, making them poor-performing alternatives to either pure ICE or pure electric cars. They also add a gasoline bomb to a potential lithium runaway thermal fire.

Of course, the obvious solution to the range limitations of a BEV is not to buy one, and to buy a gasoline-powered ICE vehicle instead.

To be fair, PHEVs do solve one problem. They allow people who want to identify as EV-drivers, but who really need (and prefer) ICE cars, to be able to pat themselves on the back for buying a chargeable electric vehicle. The only problem is that they just aren’t charging their PHEVs. Virtually no one who buys a plug-in hybrid EV is actually plugging it in!

“Basically No One Plugs in Their Plug-In Hybrids; Toyota Thinks It Has the Solution” [Motor Trend – 9/18/2025]

This Motor Trend article states that not plugging-in ”defeats the purpose of a PHEV.”

After all, if you're not charging your PHEV, you're basically driving a regular hybrid with hundreds of extra pounds of electronics and other gear on board. That's more inefficient and defeats the purpose of a PHEV.

That’s not the case. As I just mentioned, the purpose of buying a plug-in hybrid is for the self-satisfaction of owning a chargeable vehicle without the hassle of ever actually charging it. So Toyota is working to get people to actually plug in their PHEVs by developing apps, games, and notification protocols to remind people to plug their car into the wall.

To achieve these increases, the app delivered just-in-time reminders such as push notifications that were said to be 50 percent more effective than generic prompts. It also applied positive reinforcement in the form of messages that rewarded streaks, delivered encouragement, and summarized their charging habits.

As if there weren’t already enough reasons not to buy a PHEV, a car that constantly nags me with electronic reminders and push notifications sounds like pure torture. Perhaps Toyota can name one of its hectoring plug-in hybrids the “Toyota AWFL.”

More seriously, the fact that there is a near-zero incidence of people charging a vehicle that has the alternative option of being gassed up proves that an occasional 5-minute stop at the gas station is ultimately less hassle and more time efficient than daily wall charging. As to the argument that charging is cheaper, we are talking about people who already paid a significant premium for the “hood ornament” that identifies the car as a chargeable EV. A dollar saved is not meaningful compared to the value of their time.

EV enthusiasts will argue that the daily ritual of plugging-in your vehicle when you get home, and then unplugging it when you leave again, takes only a minute or two, so there is no reason it can’t be done on a daily basis. Here are some other household rituals that only take a minute or two, but aren’t necessarily performed on a daily basis or immediately attended to in all households: flossing, putting dishes in the dishwasher rather than the sink, unloading the dishwasher, putting up all clothes at all times, not leaving personal items on counters or tables, taking out trash, watering houseplants, cleaning the litter box, etc.

There are a multitude of daily chores that only take a couple of minutes, but they add up to a significant capture of valuable personal time. Small chores that can be put off a couple days tend to be put off. Charging a plug-in hybrid is one of those household chores. It’s clear that PHEV drivers have reasoned that the occasional fill-up while doing errands or commuting is preferable to a doing an annoying household chore 14 times per week (e.g. – plugging-in and unplugging their car ever day.)

A relative of mine had a Tesla and was constantly running late because she “forgot” to charge her car. Actually, she prioritized more important things than her car whenever she got home. While EV super-fans may enjoy the ritual (sacrament?) of plugging their cars in each evening, sort of like how boaters enjoy the task of scrubbing their boat after a day on the water, for those of us for whom cars are necessary appliances, daily car maintenance is an unwanted burden. A busy parent doesn’t have time to think about tethering the car to the wall of the garage when there are children to unbuckle, groceries to unload, dinner to start preparing, etc.

It seems likely that plug-in hybrids have about as much future as pure electric vehicles, serving as a boutique, status-symbol product that does not serve the needs of the majority of car drivers.

Meanwhile, traditional Prius-style hybrids continue to grow in popularity because they do provide a benefit, specifically, much better gas mileage in city driving, without the hassle of having to charge the vehicle.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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