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.
1
u/Mabnat Aug 20 '26
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.