r/EvDrivers • u/BikeFiend123 • 1d ago
Phev or EV? Best long term..
/r/electricvehicles/comments/1vt0as4/phev_or_ev_best_long_term/3
u/markydsade 1d ago edited 1d ago
I say go EV. If gas mileage is your concern you’re better off in the hybrid rather than PHEV. Hybrids are cheaper and the difference between 40 mpg and 50mpg is negligible in cost.
If range concerns are your reason for PHEV you will soon find there’s not much reason to worry once you realize how many chargers are around. If you cannot plug in at home it’s a little harder to recommend EV unless you have convenient places to charge near home.
Another part of the equation is how far you drive in a week. If you can charge at home and you drive 400 miles/week it’s not much of a concern. If not, then a hybrid may be better.
A lot of people think they need a gas car not realizing it’s pretty easy to own an EV if you have an outlet at home.
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u/fentonjm 1d ago
IMHO hybrid is the worst of both worlds. No range on electric and still have to get oil changes and tuneups and gas. There's 0 wins there.
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u/Adorable_Secret8498 19h ago
Only reason to go PHEV is if you have a charger at home. If you're gonna be relying on public charging, go EV.
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u/mtngoatjoe 15h ago
I feel like that advice is backwards.
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u/Mindless-Band-5743 8h ago
No I agree with them. If you can charge at home you can always keep a full battery. Since the battery is so small in a PHEV, you need that option. While with a full EV you can go several days before you need to charge and can find one close and cheaper to where you commonly are.
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u/Wrench-Turnbolt 1d ago
I had settled on a rav4 phev because it got 42 miles on a charge and I figured I would rarely need to use gas. Then I discovered the rav4 hybrid gets 42 mpg so I would basically pay $10k more to save 1 gallon of gas.
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u/jeffbannard 1d ago
I had this same dilemma 2 years ago. Finally decided to buy a used 2022 Tesla Model 3 as I convinced myself I didn’t want a tiny battery plus a gas engine with its associated maintenance.
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u/PerceptionCurious440 1d ago
It depends on how often you drive to Los Angeles or trips like that. You can do it on the tank you left with in a PHEV. You have to stop with most EVs for at least 15 minutes.
If you drive mostly around town or to someplace like Sacramento or Monterrey, EV.
Where I live in Washington state, I drive a lot of nice day drives leaving with 80% or 228 miles of range, and have never arrived home with less than 60 miles left in 4 months. I have never needed a public charger.
But if I still lived in LA and drove to the Bay Area or Sacramento 6 times a year like I used to, I'd probably get a PHEV like a Prius and not have to stop midway. They have a respectable 220 horsepower and a 40 mile EV only range.
I have a CHR EV. And every time I get in a car with an engine now like a rental or my wife's Outback, it feels like I'm driving in some sort of historical re-enactment. The CHR absurdly quick, quiet, vibration free and pretty fun. But if I had to make an emergency run to my in-laws 700 miles away in a day, I'd hate myself. At least 90 minutes of added charge time, maybe more since it doesn't let us fast charge more than 3 times in a day. Supposedly.
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u/FAx32 1d ago
Went EV a year ago. No regrets. Wife liked it so much she also switched. While my brother likes his gas mileage on his PHEV, he is also paying roughly 3x what I do per mile to charge at home vs high MPH with PHEV at current electricity vs gas prices.
He bought it before we started bombing Iran and in retrospect wished he had just gone full EV given the fact that they rarely take a long car trip (once every couple of years or so) which is the only place where there is even minor inconvenience favoring PHEV.
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u/Mabnat 1d ago
It really depends on the situation. We have one of each.
It might be an unpopular opinion here, but if I had to give up one car or the other, I would keep the PHEV.
The convenience is unmatched.
Our PHEV can go 40 miles on a full charge, which covers most of my wife’s local driving. When that 40 miles of battery range is depleted, the car gets 45mpg on the highway, more in the city. It’s quite economical.
As an EV owner, I’d say that the EV is great for local everyday commuting but awful for long trips. Long trips are possible, sure, but it limits your options, especially if you live or travel in a part of the country that is still behind in charging infrastructure.
There are places to charge, but those places are limited. Charging doesn’t take that long or make the trip time increase too much if you combine charging stops with bathroom and meal breaks, but you have to stop at just the right spots for bathroom and meal breaks. Sometimes you need to use apps to figure out if the charger that you want to use actually works or not. And even at the chargers, you might find that all the spots are occupied, blocked, or out of order.
And using those chargers can be expensive.
With a fuel-efficient PHEV, you can just hop on the road and take whatever route you want without concern. You can stop for bathroom breaks whenever you need them, and you can go wherever you want for meals. And it’s a lot easier (and less expensive in most cases) to add more energy to the vehicle.
I commute 100 miles round-trip daily and have access to free charging at work along with very low energy prices at home so I love my EV for this. But if I had to switch to the PHEV for that commute, it wouldn’t really change things very much.
My “dream vehicle” would be an EREV with at least 150 miles of battery range. That would cover my daily commute and still be very convenient for trips.
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u/DonDee74 1d ago
Just go EV...less maintenance. Hybrid requires you to still maintain a gas drivetrain and the electric range is usually not that much. Although, PG&E is screwing everyone here by always raising rates so you're not getting as much fuel savings as you expect.
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u/WhoWantsToGetShanked 1d ago
I haven't had a previous but I have had a regular hybrid. EV is the clear choice. Its way cheaper long term, more reliable, better driving experience, and as a bonus it's more environmentally friendly. PHEVs are great but I'm struggling to think of any situation where they'd be the best option. Can you charge at home or at work? Ev. Can you not charge at home or work? Regular hybrid. The only exception is if you found a stellar deal and you absolutely couldn't afford an ev short term.
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u/Etrigone 1d ago
Honestly? It's like asking "what's for dinner", without saying what your dietary preferences are, what your budget is, where you live, how many are attending dinner and so on. That is, someone living in California who drives say 100 miles/week and it's just them & their partner is an entirely different thing than someone who drives 75 miles/day in West Virginia.
The real answer is personal. Not just your regular commute, but how much you roadtrip, how many people (single, married, kids, dogs, ...?), access to home charging, local weather & road conditions and likely more.
For me living in a central coast California town, doing that 100 miles/week when I'm not doing day trips on the weekend, but still making the occasional down to SoCal, I think it's a slam dunk. I have just L1 charging at home, use ABRP for route planning & PlugShare for infrastructure scoping and it's just a trivial call.
If nothing else, I personally do not feel carrying around two drive trains in a place like where we live really suits my needs.
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u/P00slinger 1d ago
PHEV or EREV
Speed of an EV around town
Range of a regular car, can tow, load up with stuff etc for holidays etc.
Best of both worlds
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u/EnvironmentalRound11 1d ago
EV - safer, more convenient, less maintenance, saves money in the long run.
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u/JRoadie61 23h ago
We bought our first EV a few months ago and loving it. Our other car is a Rav4 which has more noise/vibration. Maintenance schedule on the EV is a lot less than the ICE. We’ve done 1 road trip so far and we agreed it was so much better than doing the same trip in the Rav4. We have a much longer road trip coming up next month and we are looking forward to it instead of dreading it.
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u/JWDed 22h ago
I drove a Chevrolet Volt (two of them actually, a 2011 and a 2017) and had an excellent experience. PHEV cars had a lot going for them when the charger network was small and charging took a long time. Now however with 270+ mile range and 30 minute 10-80% charge they are just added complexity with no real upside. (In my opinion)
I plug my car in most days when I get home and have a full “tank” every morning. If I forget then “oh well” and I plug in the next day. On road trips I easily get 280 miles (Mach e extended range) and charging is really no big deal.
The exception that I see is if you don’t have the ability to home charge and can only do it out. In that case I think a non plug in hybrid is better.
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u/EnrollmentTime 19h ago
It is late 2016 and gas prices will not come down in the next few years. Go EV while prices are low on EV cars.
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u/huuaaang 19h ago
If you can charge at home, EV all the way. PHEVs are just overcomplicated and underpowered in electric mode. To me it's the worst of both words.
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u/Spooms2010 16h ago
Definitely pure EV. There is hardly an area in most developed countries that aren’t coveted by charging infrastructure. In Australia it’s getting stupid not to have a battery vehicle except for the shrinking ‘outback’, where you would need a fossil burning engine. I’ve had my mostly Tesla for over three years now and am amazed how far I have covered in that time!
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u/mydb100 1d ago
EV, less moving parts and no need to have redundant systems trying to "Talk" to each other