EDIT clarifications:

  • the article is from the European Commission. This thing comes from a serious study based on hard facts and data.
  • Check this comment by @wooster@startrek.website, who reported the data.
  • Note that plugin hybrids are still better than pure ice, but they were expected to be much better.

It’s not a typo: plug-in hybrids are used, in real word cases, with ICE much more than anticipated.

In the EU, fuel consumption monitoring devices are required on new cars. They studied over 10% of all cars sold in 2021 and turns out they use way more fuel, and generate way more CO2, than anybody thought.

The gap means that CO2 emissions reduction objectives from transport will be more difficult to reach.

Thruth is, we need less cars, not “better” cars.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    You don’t have to charge a hybrid to get the benefits of the electric motor. It can charge from regenerative braking. That being said, plugging in a PHEV will maximize the benefits of the system vs relying on regenerative braking alone.

    • bobburger@fedia.io
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      4 months ago

      EVs only recover about 90% of the energy used I’m braking with regenerative braking. That means they don’t even recover all of the energy needed to slow the car down, which certainly not enough to get the car back up to it’s previous speed.

      All this to say:

      Regenerative braking doesn’t add significant miles to your driving range.

      So relying solely on regenerative braking isn’t going to have any meaningful impact on driving range.

      Source

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I think you should re-read your source. as it says this…

        These small boosts in battery range can accumulate and improve efficiency over time when used regularly.

        And your quote is out of context.

        Regenerative braking doesn’t add significant miles to your driving range. Still, those gains in recaptured energy can really add up when used liberally and regularly.

        Consider that most fuel economy is lost when the car is accelerating, having a system that captures 90% of the heat every lost to braking, which can then be used to get the car moving again, would be a huge benefit. That’s why regenerative braking can’t extend range, it instead reduces the impact stopping and starting have on the range of the vehicle.

        • bobburger@fedia.io
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          4 months ago

          You aren’t getting the full benefits of a plugin hybrid electric motor if you’re relying on regenerative braking. My source clearly explains this.

          You get small efficiency gains that add up over time, but you certainly aren’t seeing a meaningful extension in range over a single trip, and you certainly aren’t seeing the benefits of a plug in electric motor if you rely on regenerative braking. In fact, this was one of the main points made in the OP; phev drivers rely on the ICE and thus don’t achieve the emissions benefits that should come with a phev.

          • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            phev drivers rely on the ICE and thus don’t achieve the emissions benefits that should come with a phev.

            This is true, but the assumption that this means that Hybrids are less efficient than their ICE-only counterparts and have detrimental effects on CO2 emissions is not. The article fails to put into plain numbers the expected CO2 emissions of each vehicle type, and their actual CO2 emissions. A lot of those PHEVs are advertised as having 0 emissions most of the time because you can use the electric only option. Even if people don’t take advantage of that by plugging in the vehicle, the hybrid system is still more efficient (except for some extreme long distance, non-stop scenarios) than a comparable ICE only car. The article does not tell us that hybrids are less efficient than ICE only cars, it tells us that our current methods for testing, advertising and accounting for C02 emissions for PHEVs are not matching real world data. This isn’t actually a new problem, discrepancies with lab data and real world driving data have existed ever since we started testing the fuel economy of cars.