Super-Hybrids Are the Bridge for Skeptical and Curious EV Manufacturers

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(Bloomberg) — The Mercedes GLC 350e offers four-zone climate control and its headlights project icons onto the pavement — like a pedestrian — to warn of impending dangers. But the SUV’s impressive trick is no frills: It can go from Ossining, New York, to Midtown Manhattan – almost Don Draper’s journey in Mad Men – with the Electron, with its turbocharged, 4-cylinder gas engine just along for the ride. Then it can turn around and do it again.

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“You start dealing with the customer’s daily driving completely when you get into technology like this, which is a game-changer,” said Bart Herring, vice president of sales and product at Mercedes Benz USA. The SUV offers an electric range of 50 miles, which Herring calls “the magic number.”

As the adoption of electric vehicles continues at a steady pace, auto executives have created a killer app for the masses of American drivers who fall between EV-curious and EV-septical: the super hybrid.

Herring’s magic number is the average daily driving distance of a single US car. In addition to the Mercedes, two other models in the American market can carry that mileage entirely on electrons, both from the Range Rover and Jaguar Land Rover marquees.

Lower that number to 40 miles, and seven other models join the club. Think super-hybrids, which promise an almost zero-emission road life with the safety net of gas. For the most part, uncompromising cars with uncompromising price tags (the super-hybrid version of the Mercedes GLC starts just shy of $60,000). Toyota, however, entered the affordable race with two long-range models, the Prius Prime ($32,975) and the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid ($43,865).

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Fully electric cars have proven to be very popular and many car executives expect them to completely take over the industry. The only question is how soon. BloombergNEF expects plug-in sales to reach 9.2 million by 2030, with nearly four electric cars purchased for one hybrid.

Yet study after study shows many drivers – especially Americans – are still concerned about electric range, charger availability and charging speed. So-called mild hybrids, which don’t require grafting, have been popular in the US for years.

With smaller batteries, they are usually less expensive than gas-only models. However, it is rare for them to drive solely on electrons and achieve efficiency gains, especially with regenerative braking.

Plug-in hybrid batteries are 10 to 20 times larger and offer a corresponding step up in green energy. A Toyota Rav4 with a mild-hybrid setup, for example, burns a gallon of gas every 41 miles of urban driving. By comparison, the same car in plug-in form can travel 42 miles entirely on electrons.

The latest crop of super-hybrids is on the way. The Mercedes GLE battery has a capacity of almost 24 kWh — 28% more than the power pack in the Rav4 plug-in.

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A survey by the Boston Consulting Group shows that the long-range hybrid attracts about one-third of US car buyers, and it expects a parade of new hybrid models that go longer on battery power than most now. Similar models are profitable around the world. In China, it is common for plug-in hybrids to go 60 miles on a charge.

While US EV sales slow to 2024, plug-in hybrids maintain their momentum. “It’s becoming increasingly apparent that all automakers should have hybrids in their portfolio and will have to for a long time,” explains Nathan Niese, global leader in EVs and Energy Storage at the Boston Consulting Group.

Although Jaguar Land Rover doesn’t provide powertrain sales data, it says its long-range hybrids have been incredibly popular in recent years. The company’s data shows that three out of four trips taken in its vehicles can be covered by models connected to the brand, according to spokesman Joe Stauble.

“We’ve made very clear our commitment to electrification,” said Stauble, which is net-zero carbon emissions by 2039. “However, at Range Rover, we appreciate that our customers are not ready to make the EV switch overnight.”

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Mercedes’ Herring says we should expect long-range hybrid technology to start appearing in other automakers’ portfolios, because they sell so well. In the third quarter, US consumers bought three times as many Mercedes plug-ins as during the same period last year. Almost half of those buyers had never owned a Mercedes before.

“You get customers who are still unsure about electricity and this speaks to them,” said Herring. “I have to say, I didn’t get it right until I drove one for nine months. …I never touched the gas.”

However, Herring was eager to connect the car; most hybrid drivers, however, are not. Between 11% and 54% of a plug-in hybrid car’s mileage is covered by the battery alone, according to BloombergNEF, depending on the type of car and its location in the world. The lower end of that spectrum isn’t much of a carbon solution, especially if the hybrid keeps its driver from selecting the fully electric option.

Even Mercedes admits that plug-in hybrids are a “bridge” to models that ditch the gas engine altogether. “The question of how short or how long that bridge is remains to be seen,” Herring said, “But for some customers, this is a destination.”

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Meanwhile, Toyota has long struggled with mixed figures. (It’s also been reluctant to contribute fully to electricity.) Making a large battery remains one of the most carbon-intensive processes in the automotive industry. With that in mind, the company thinks allowing consumers to choose how much battery they want – or need – helps spread the environmental benefits of electric driving beyond the evangelicals. Correspondingly, it is a latecomer to the all-electric market and still has only one offering in the space – spreading its battery cells evenly across its product line.

The Prius Prime plug-in, for example, manages 44 kilometers of electric driving with a 14 kWh battery; Toyota’s all-electric bZ4X can travel 252 kilometers on a charge, but its battery is five times larger.

Long-range hybrids are “an important part of our commitment to reducing carbon emissions as much as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Mike Tripp, Toyota’s group vice president of marketing. “By offering a diverse portfolio of electrified vehicles … we are giving more customers access to electrification and moving closer to the goal of reducing emissions.”

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