Volvo Proposes 100-Mile Plug-In Hybrids for Drivers with Range Anxiety(www.thedrive.com)
2 pointsby PaulHoule3 hours ago1 comment
  • Festro3 hours ago
    Hybrids were a good idea, past tense. Every year since the first commercial EVs launched they've become a weaker proposition.

    They're no longer a best of both worlds, good overall range, not as bad for the environment.

    They're now worst of both worlds, bad electric range, bad for the enviroment.

    Anyone considering an EV isn't going to want to compromise on those two things as much as they used to.

    • tssva2 hours ago
      I don’t have an EV and will not purchase one anytime soon. I would be interested in purchasing an extended range hybrid. I’ve had this discussion with many of my friends and most are not ready to purchase an EV but like myself are interested in a plug-in hybrid. A 100 range allow for all my local driving to be electric and I could still do my long range driving without adding the additional time for charging. I do drives of 9 - 13 hours at least 8-10 times a year and some years more often. Those drives are already long enough. I don’t want to add the additional time charging takes. Over that long of a drive the time adds up.
    • PaulHoule3 hours ago
      I think the real problem is that the car industry is refusing to make affordable vehicles and a big part of that is size. Americans might want huge vehicles but they can't all afford them. Chinese manufacturers, alone, are pursuing the affordable EV market, the same way that Chinese manufacturers, alone, are pursing the affordable drone market.
      • ux2664782 hours ago
        What do you mean? America has 2 offerings from Chevy, and now the Slate truck as well. Japan has the Nissan Leaf. Korea and Germany produce a few cheap EVs too. None of these vehicles are large and all of them are focused on being cheap for the mass market. The PRC's offerings rely on favorable currency positioning and extremely apathetic labor conditions (leading to better cost-efficiency). It's not an industrialist's miracle.
    • smallerize3 hours ago
      These range extenders have all the advantages of an EV until your battery runs low.
      • cherry_tree3 hours ago
        Not all the advantages though, hybrids need oil changes, transmission fluid changes, water pump, spark plugs, timing belts, etc. all the maintenance burden of an ICE that EVs do not carry.

        I’d rather have an ev with a diesel generator in the pickup bed as my “range extender” than a vehicle with constant maintenance needs.

        • PaulHoule2 hours ago
          I can dream of hooking up a generator on a trailer…

          I also dream of getting a used Nissan Leaf because most of my trips are to and from town 20 minutes away and we already had gas cars that can take longer trips. If my son wasn’t bringing home old cars I might be able to make the space for it but right now I can’t.

        • ux2664782 hours ago
          > I’d rather have an ev with a diesel generator in the pickup bed as my “range extender” than a vehicle with constant maintenance needs.

          You realize you still have all the same maintenance burden with that generator, right?

    • ux2664782 hours ago
      I'm not really sure that holds up. Why would I only consider the electric range on a hybrid?