EVs aren’t the only cars that plug in. Plug-in hybrids can theoretically serve as stepping stones to all-electric vehicles, providing enough electric range for short trips while still offering the flexibility of a gasoline engine. For those who can’t charge at home, or just don’t want to deal with the uncertainty of public charging infrastructure on road trips, they seem like a decent option. But the news cycle just delivered two reminders of the limits of plug-in hybrids.
Last week, Stellantis abruptly confirmed that it would discontinue three popular plug-in hybrid models. And at the Automotive Press Association conference in Detroit on Monday, General Motors CEO Mary Barra admitted an inconvenient truth — that many plug-in hybrid owners don’t actually plug their cars in. The auto industry as a whole isn’t giving up on plug-in hybrids, but they’re certainly in a rough patch.
Plug-in hybrid promise
The rise of plug-in cars in the early 2010s was a technological revolution not seen since the dawn of the automobile itself. And like the early days of automobiledom, there was a bit of a Wild West feel as competing technologies tried to stake a claim. In this case, all-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and, to a lesser extent, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles were all promoted as the cars of the future.
While GM is bearish on plug-in hybrids today (outside of China, that is), it kicked things off with arguably the most famous plug-in hybrid of all. The Chevrolet Volt was inspired by a crude-yet-effective solution from GM’s EV1 project. In the absence of charging stations, engineers used trailers with generators to keep the batteries of those all-electric vehicles topped up. And that remains the main appeal of plug-in hybrids: enough electric range for the short trips that make up the vast majority of vehicle usage, while keeping a way to top up the battery when charging stations are unavailable. Using that electric range — usually between 25 and 50 miles — to fullest means less gasoline burned.
Automakers found more niche uses as well. In cars like the Bentley Continental GT Speed and Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance, plug-in hybrid powertrains keep inefficiency in check by giving engineers a route to more power without increasing engine displacement. The instant torque of electric motors can also complement combustion engines by filling gaps in their power bands. In the Lamborghini Temerario, electrification helps tame a wild, high-revving engine, even if it doesn’t provide much of an efficiency boost.
But do they get plugged in?
The Achilles’ Heel of plug-in hybrids is that owners don’t have to plug them in. If they don’t, that leaves a regular hybrid lugging around hundreds of pounds of extra weight in the form of a bigger battery pack that isn’t being used. And that’s how most plug-in hybrids are being driven, GM CEO Mary Barra told Reuters reporter Kalea Hall in a video interview.
“What we also know today with plug-in hybrids is that most people don’t plug them in,” Barra said. “So that’s why we’re trying to be very thoughtful about what we do from a hybrid and plug-in hybrid perspective.”
Barra said what many of her fellow executives may be unwilling to admit. In 2024, InsideEVs investigated whether owners were actually plugging in regularly, reaching out to several automakers for usage data. However, most automakers either could not provide that data or would not say specifically how often their plug-in hybrids were being used as intended.
Multiple studies have concluded that owners often don’t plug in. In 2022, the International Council on Clean Transportation said that real-world electric miles driven could be 25%-65% lower than the range ratings on plug-in hybrid window stickers, resulting in fuel consumption 42%-67% higher. Looking at the European market, a 2025 study by Transport & Environment found that the gap between real-world emissions and officially-rated emissions for plug-in hybrids has widened in recent years. In 2023, plug-in hybrids averaged five times higher real-world emissions than officially rated, according to the study.
And do buyers want them?
Automakers can ignore this issue because regulations don’t account for real-world emissions or driver behavior. But they do need to sell cars, and Stellantis apparently thinks it can’t sell plug-in hybrids. Last week it confirmed that the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe, and Jeep Wrangler 4xe would not return for the 2026 model year. A spokesperson told The Drive that this was due to “customer demand shifting” and that the automaker would refocus on “more competitive electrified solutions, including hybrid and range-extended vehicles.”
Stellantis never broke out sales of the plug-in hybrids from their non-hybrid counterparts, but it was understood that they sold fairly well. The automaker previously said the Wrangler 4xe was the bestselling plug-in hybrid in the U.S. But that made it a big fish in a small pond. In late 2024, J.D. Power estimated that plug-in hybrids represented just 1.9% of the U.S. new-car market — less than all-electric vehicles.
There are likely other factors at play. The Chrysler and Jeep plug-in hybrids have been plagued by recalls, the loss of the federal EV tax credit makes these vehicles less attractive to shoppers, and the Trump Administration’s disinterest in enforcing emissions rules gives Stellantis some temporary leeway. But it’s still a bad sign that Stellantis doesn’t think it has a business case for what were overall good vehicles. The Pacifica Hybrid was a unique and versatile offering in an SUV-saturated marketplace, while the Jeep 4xe models preserved towing capacity and off-road capability, giving owners a taste of zero-emission four-wheeling.
Is it worth keeping plug-in hybrids around?
Plug-in hybrids will persist for the time being. Other automakers, such as Porsche and Volvo, see them as a hedge against unpredictable EV sales. And even as it adds more EVs to its lineup, Toyota just gave the RAV4 plug-in hybrid even more electric range as part of a 2026-model-year redesign.
A variation on the theme, known as “extended-range electric vehicles (EREV)” could also see a resurgence. Here, the internal-combustion engine is used purely as a generator to charge the battery pack. The BMW i3 REx pioneered the concept, but it’s now being repurposed for big pickup trucks like the Ram 1500 Ramcharger, Scout Terra Harvester, and a replacement for the Ford F-150 Lightning.
The question is whether these efforts are motivated by the desire to make good cars and trucks or just the desire to avoid tackling the issues of charging infrastructure and cost that are holding back wider EV adoption. Plug-in hybrids don’t have to be an evolutionary dead end, but they shouldn’t hold back EVs either.
Source: www.digitaltrends.com
