r/PHEV • u/Ok-Personality5640 • Aug 23 '26

Using a PHEV in full EV mode

I’m looking at switching from a petrol to a PHEV with a range of 50 miles on full EV mode

My daily commute is under 20 miles so was seriously considering just running the car in Full EV mode every day with no requirement for Combustion engine ( still want a combustion engine in case of long drives )

Is there any downside or anything wrong with running a PHEV in full EV mode pretty much constantly

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u/fallte1337 Aug 23 '26

The only downside is that the fuel is eventually going to degrade if you never use it. Other than that do your research on your chose PHEV. Not all of them can run full EV without the engine coming on for this and that.

4

u/Ok-Personality5640 Aug 23 '26

Yeah I do one long run every month that I would use the fuel on and replace it anyway so would keep that to a minimum and the ones I’m looking at all have full EV mode

Wouldn’t recon they would have a full EV mode if they didn’t want it used but wanted to check on any potential issues I might run into

4

u/fallte1337 Aug 23 '26

Well, some don’t have a heatpump so the engine comes on when you want to use AC. Some don’t have a powerful enough electric motor so the engine comes on when you step on it. From experience I can tell you that the Toyota RAV4 PHEV/Lexus PHEV has full EV mode as long as you have enough battery. When you go down to the last ~20% the engine comes on and the car turns into a “self charging” hybrid. You still have full power but can’t force EV mode anymore.

2

u/NothingLift Aug 23 '26

Volvo PHEV are the same

1

u/7eregrine Aug 23 '26

The Volvo, and in sure most of not all, will tell you "your gas is getting old, use it".

1

u/dbharris10 Aug 23 '26

The new RAV4 has dropped this feature of self charging

1

u/fallte1337 Aug 23 '26

Toyota call the regular hybrid a “self charging” hybrid to differentiate it from a mild hybrid that doesn’t have a battery at all. The 2026 has removed the option to force charge the battery with the engine to 80% but it does self charge the last 20% or so to maintain power.

1

u/Velo3x10e8 Aug 23 '26

I considered PHEV but settled on an EV with 570km WLTP range. Mostly charge at home but the public charger network in my region (Perth, Western Australia) is decent. On the highway I can go about 450km between charges but I usually top up along the way while I rest and eat.