Most Plug-in hybrid owners don't plug in....

[David Towle]

Maybe they are leaning hard on European info:

I would expect EU utilization of PHEVs in electric mode would be less for one big reason: Fewer people in the EU own their homes versus the US, so cheap home charging must be much less common there. PHEVs give you the choice of gas or electricity, and if the electricity price is high because of jacked up public charger rates, then they will fill up with gas more often. In 111k miles I've never charged at a public charger, at home electric prices are still about a third of gas and I am on electric 95% of the time. OTOH, so many people are totally clueless about how much different things cost maybe this is just a figment of my imagination?

 

[Landshark]

I really like the part where they tell us that the cars use gas when in Electric Mode. At least they’re being open about how uninformed they are. Of course the elephant in the room, as I mentioned previously, is that by their own admission their previous assumptions were flawed and their expectations were unrealistic.

The Clarity gets about 40mpg on gas, which is more that just about anything comparable other than a Prius. Our Jeep gets 22-24mpg which is better that the V-6 or V-8 option. So even if driven on 100% gas, it’ll use less gas than many ICE only options. Let’s not forget that about 60% of US electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels, so it isn’t really that clean.

To be clear, I’m no more a fan of PHEV’s than I am of agencies, industry leaders or journalists who manipulate and distort information in an attempt to support their opinions.

 

[DennisH]

I have a 2018 Clarity and know a few other people who own PHEVs. I don't know any PHEV owner who doesn't plug in, and the GM CEO's comment is very misleading. Driving daily around town, I'm currently on 452 miles without using any significant amount of gas. Charging is done using solar panels on my garage roof. Buying a PHEV was one of the best vehicle decisions I've made in my 65+ years. I understand the technology required by PHEVs is complex -- as one engineer friend of mine told me, "PHEVs are the most complex car that has ever been built, and ever WILL be built" -- because purely electric cars are so much simpler. The Big Brands don't make the same kind of money with PHEVs that they do with pickups, for example, so they don't want to make them. But honestly, homeowners would love them if they could all get 40-50 miles/per charge like the Clarity, because most people don't drive their cars over 45 miles/per day.