While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average
Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.
The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.
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According to the study, the vehicles require on average six litres per 100km, or about 300%, more fuel to run than previously cited.
The scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute found that the main reason for the higher-than-stated fuel usage was due precisely to the fact that the PHEVs use two different modes, the electric engine and the combustion engine, switching between both. Until now it has been claimed by manufacturers that the vehicles used only a little or almost no fuel when in the electric mode. The studies showed that this was not in fact the case.
The study is framed perfectly as it has exposed this issue. Now we can make political decisions accordingly, to either stop subsidizing useless PHEVs or to enforce their correct usage through a mixture of incentives, infrastructure and punitive measures.
Agreed. In the Netherlands we lost road tax incentives for PHEV. It does make sense, but we should probably make fuel more expensive as incentive. It currently still has some discount to compensate for the fuel prices rising due to the war in Ukraine. If you are stupid enough to buy a heavier PHEV and then not use the battery: congratulations: you pay more. If you charge it properly you’ll be off cheaper than ICE drivers. I recently bought a new PHEV and after ~1700 kilometers I still have half of the gas tank filled. So roughly 1.3 l / 100 km (not sure if the dealer actually filled it to the brim). It is advertised as 0.5 l /100 km so yeah: 160 percent worse than advertised. But this was mostly in cold weather and snow, with winter tires and I think engines usually consume a bit more if they’re brand new (and cold). So I’m not disappointed nor surprised.
Excellent analysis, thanks too for sharing your numbers, quite interesting seeing how much you can save with proper usage of the vehicle!!