By John Smith
Sales of all-electric vehicles are growing slower than expected, and major automakers are increasingly turning to hybrid vehicles to meet customer demand while avoiding costly penalties associated with federal fuel economy and emissions standards.
This shift in strategy runs counter to industry- wide messaging on electric vehicles in recent years.
Many car companies have begun investing billions of dollars in all-electric vehicles, and the Biden administration is also promoting the electric vehicle market.
But hybrids —which combine traditional internal combustion engines with electric vehicle battery technology—could help the industry reduce fuel consumption and emissions in the short term while making electrification easier for consumers to embrace.
In addition, the reliability of hybrid vehicles is also better. Unplugged hybrids are becoming more reliable, on average 26 percent more reliable than internal combustion engine vehicles, according to a new survey from Consumer Reports.
The reliability of all-electric vehicles is 79% lower than that of internal combustion engine vehicles.
According to information from Edmunds, an American online automotive information resource company, sales of traditional gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles (HEV) such as the Toyota Prius will exceed that of all-electric vehicles in 2023.
As of November this year, HEVs accounted for 8.3% of U.S. car sales, with approximately 1.2 million units sold. Compared with total sales last year, this proportion increased by 2.8 percentage points.
Entering December, electric vehicle sales accounted for 6.9%, approximately 976,560 units, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to last year’s total sales. As of November, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) sales accounted for just 1% of U.S. sales.
According to CNBC, Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds, said, “In the past few years, people have talked a lot about (car) electrification and abandoning hybrids, but… hybrids Cars are not dead. There are a lot of consumers interested in electrification who may not be ready for an all-electric vehicle.”
Hybrids also cost less than fully electric vehicles and can alleviate many of the concerns people have about electric vehicles, such as range and a lack of charging infrastructure. The average price of a hybrid this year is $42,381, according to Edmunds data, which is lower than the average price of an electric vehicle of about $59,400, as well as lower than the average price of a PHEV of $60,700 and the average price of a conventional car of $44,800.
Morgan Stanley said earlier this month that Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, including Kia, account for 90% of U.S. hybrid vehicle sales.
Ford Motor offers PHEVs but is also moving toward HEVs. The auto giant announced in September plans to double U.S. sales of V-6 hybrid models to about 20% in the 2024 model year.
As of November this year, Ford hybrid vehicle sales increased 23% year-on-year to 2022, reaching more than 121,000 vehicles. By comparison, Ford’s electric vehicle sales increased 16.2% year over year to approximately 62,500 vehicles.
General Motors and Stellantis were forced to pay a total of $363.8 million in fines for failing to meet federal fuel economy standards on cars and trucks built in previous years, according to information released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June.
Automaker lobbying groups say such fines would increase significantly under current proposals from the Biden administration to improve vehicle fuel efficiency and shift to electric vehicles. Hybrids allow automakers to avoid costly fines.
