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Americans still prefer gas vehicles over hybrid or EVs, study shows | Reuters

Americans still prefer to buy a standard gas vehicle over a hybrid or an electric vehicle even with the same price and features, a KPMG study, opens new tab said on Thursday.

Only one-fifth of people surveyed said they would purchase an EV over a gas-powered vehicle or hybrid vehicle.



This is bizarre to me, if a hybrid offers the same overall features, what's wrong with it?  Or an EV for that matter, though there you could worry about battery life and charging costs.  I chose a hybrid, it seems to work fine (so far).

It depends IMHO how narrowly define "same price and features". If same features means same gas mileage, I'd prefer the pure gasser over the hybrid as it's less complex. If it means same features but you also get more gas mileage, I'd take a hybrid for the same price as an pure gasser. 

The report that most folks who own PHEVs never plug them in is perhaps probative here.  Car buyers often don't understand what they bought, it would seem.  Or maybe it's laziness.  Or both.

Obviously, an EV and a gasser won't ever offer the exact same kind of vehicle.  The EV will have certain advantages that are inherent, and disadvantages.  

In some "logical" existence, I'd think "we" should be explaining the merits of PHEVs, and putting less emphasis on EVs.  The transition from ICe to EV is too abrupt, I think, with a lot of misinformation, and a lot of stubborness (i.e., no real conservative would every drive an EV).

PHEVs offer a more gradual transition, still with some deficiencies, but they SHOULD be more palatable to John Q.

I think so many folks made up their minds on this issue it would be difficult to "educate".  I think government could do a MUCH better job explaining things like MPGe, and EV range, and charging times, etc..  

One nice thing about many PHEVs is that they offer more power and acceleration than the corresponding ICE-V.  That could be a selling point.

Maybe the car makers are also at fault, other than Toyota/Honda.

Boats are the 2nd worst kind of Electric vehicle to pursue, right behind Airplanes.  

First of all, hardly any engines are ran as hard as boat engines.  You'd never cruise around in your car at 5-6K RPM for hours at a time, whereas a lot of boats do in fact run well over 4K RPM for extended periods.  My own boat I usually run between 4-5.5K RPM's to keep it on plane and at a decent speed.  

For some boats, the weight is critical.  Obviously some boats like Wakeboats need the extra weight to create the wakes, and with the battery being presumably low the COG would probably be better than any inboard/outboard.  On the plus side, the weight could be better distributed, and the motor could be much lighter than any outboard at the stern of the boat.

But you're talking about efficiencies of 2-3 times less than that of any type of electric car.  So if you're car you're driving now gets 20-30 MPG, a comparable boat engine would get maybe 3-5 mpg at best.  Which basically means limited range.  Add that into a wet environment that is already hard on electronics along with the beatings boats take (pounding wakes etc) I just don't see it as a good option outside a few unusual circumstances until battery density's get much higher, which is most likely not going to happen until some major breakthrough's occur.  

New fuel economy rules for cars and trucks released by Biden administration (thehill.com)

So, my "dodge" about the new rules and the CA mandate is to build a PHEV with about 10 miles of battery range, maybe even less, to be charged with a 110V line.  (Maybe it has a 220v plug also if it matters.)  It's basically just a hybrid, but with a somewhat larger battery than a mild hybrid.  I imagine most owners wouldn't bother to charge it.

It would cost a bit more, maybe a thousand bucks.  And it would meet the CA "mandate" requirements.

Any ICE can run on a suitable biofuel.  Hydrigen has issues of course.

I was running errands yesterday a few miles from home.  Our Tuscon hybrid was reading 40 mpg for the trips.  I went to the liquor store and Kroger, probably 6 miles total in moderate traffic.