[nico]

I think plug-in hybrids are the perfect combo. You get amazing flexibility and if you mostly drive locally, then 80-90% you are probably purely driving electric

When we bought are last car, I would've bought one of those if there had been a Toyota or Honda minivan. We ended up going for a regular hybrid instead. Hopefully this category gets adopted by more car makers

[bmicraft]

The main problem with PHEV is, that's it's comparably small battery will age very poorly because it will both: a) do more charge/discharge cycles per distance driven, and b) get charged and discharged closer to 0 & 100% making the battery age even faster.

[plugger]

I'm not sure where you're getting this idea from, but my PHEV (BYD Shark 6) doesn't drop below 22% battery as the engine is there to charge the battery, not propel the vehicle.

I also believe that most pure BEV drivers would charge their cars daily to mitigate the risk of range anxiety.

[plqbfbv]

> I'm not sure where you're getting this idea from, but my PHEV (BYD Shark 6) doesn't drop below 22% battery as the engine is there to charge the battery, not propel the vehicle.

> I also believe that most pure BEV drivers would charge their cars daily to mitigate the risk of range anxiety.

(not parent poster) I got the perspective from people that wanted to help other people, but stopped repairing PHEVs:

- https://evclinic.eu/2025/09/27/if-you-drive-a-hybrid-may-god...

- https://evclinic.eu/2025/01/19/ultimate-ev-ice-and-hybrid-co...

- https://evclinic.eu/2025/12/04/2021-phev-bmw-ibmucp-21f37e-p...

The difference with BEV charging is that the battery is much bigger and it's a core component (it's properly serviceable), so I can charge it at 60%, keep degradation at bare minimum, and still have 270km of range. With a PHEV you'll need to always charge it 100% to fully use that EV range, so the battery will degrade way faster due to way more cycling.

[plugger]

Cool. Thanks for demonstrating you have no idea of my usage. I charge every second day as I don't drive far or often. Sometimes I go 3 or more days as I'm actually trying to burn petrol to seat the seals on the pistons of my engine/generator.

Plus my 30kWh battery is Lithium Iron Phosphate. Your BEV is likely a Lithium-Ion? Regardless, I should get 3,000-5,000 full charge cycles on my battery. As long as I charge it to 100% once a week I should be golden.

I have a BYD dealership 25km from my house and a 6 year/150k KM warranty. I'm pretty sure people work there, they definitely were when I visited. Given that I'm pretty sure there are people repairing PHEVs.

[plqbfbv]

I'm happy that your usecase is a conscious one, that doesn't completely remove the issues of two powertrains to maintain and a smaller battery. BYD is better than average in this regard, and 30kW battery seems big enough that I agree with you, deep/frequent cycling is less of an issue.

Unfortunately that is not the experience for the average driver of a PHEV. Most people buy by brand, not by specs, so the average result is what you see in the links of EVClinic - 80`000km cars with fried batteries that cost more to replace than the resale value of the car itself (and again, as also noted by EVClinic IIRC, BYD is better than average in regard to repairs and parts cost).

[macintux]

Extra weight, extra drivetrain complexity, and many owners don't actually charge their hybrids so they're getting worse mileage.

Tradeoffs everywhere, so "perfect" is very much not the word I'd apply.

[nico]

Well, if you want to be pedantic, sure, nothing is perfect. You can always find fault with anything. Like you say, there are always tradeoffs

It all depends on what you want the car for and how you use it. It will also depend on the very specific car and manufacturer. In my case, even though I love the concept of PHEV, I'd still wouldn't buy a Chrysler, so, to your point, I prefer to get a different brand that is not a PHEV, than get that specific make

[bigfatkitten]

It’s a better tradeoff than maintaining two entirely separate vehicles, which is what I do because no suitable EV for all my needs exists yet.

[olyjohn]

Extra weight compared to what? A pure ICE car? The weight savings from only using 30% of the batteries is huge. Also, what's more complex about a PHEV vs a regular hybrid? Do you want to tell me how heavy and unreliable a Prius is?

And who cares about a bunch of people do who don't know how to use their shit? That doesn't mean there's something wrong with the vehicle.

[tzs]

If you don't charge your PHEV it still works as a HEV, so you get considerably better gas mileage than a pure ICE.

Also, is the drivetrain more complex? If your Hybrid is a Toyota it will have a mechanically simpler drivetrain than an ICE, but their drivetrain is electrically and electronically more complex. I think it is the same with some Honda hybrids.

[brnt]

I do not know about huge American cars but in Europe a small engine weighs less than a big battery.

[lelanthran]

> I think plug-in hybrids are the perfect combo.

I think they're the worst. I don't want additional points of failures after all. I want fewer points of failures.

I want all-electric or all-ICE. If I changed cars the minute they were freehold (i.e. long-term rental), then sure, all that extra points of failure is irrelevant.

Right now, with reliability of ICE cars the way they are, my daily driver is a 2004 VW, and there does not seem to be any indication that it will need replacement in the future.