Over and over I hear people, including reputable automotive podcasts, tout plug-in hybrids as as being a substitute for a full BEV (for shorter commutes) with added benefit of not causing range anxiety.
While this is possible, I am concerned they are missing one important point - battery wear. It stands to reason that a 15 kWh battery pack for a PHEV operating as EV-only would see 5 times as much usage as a 75 kWh BEV for the same distance.
Case in point, a coworker has boasted for the past 10+ years about not having to use gas for his 30-40 mile round trip commute with his Chevy Volt. He charges at home and at work.
Just this past year while on a road trip his Volt broke down and had to be towed to a dealership. The dealer said it needed a new battery pack at a cost of $25000. The car had about 70,000 miles on it (maybe less). He ended up towing it to a major city 2 hours away to have a refurbished pack installed for about $8000 at a specialty shop. Even at this lower cost, his car was essentially totaled.
I have to wonder if he would have had a much better outcome with a pure BEV, as he used the gas motor very little and put (I believe) a strain on the much smaller PHEV battery pack. Essentially he put 70000 x 5 = 350,000 BEV equivalent miles on that little 16kWh pack.
While this is possible, I am concerned they are missing one important point - battery wear. It stands to reason that a 15 kWh battery pack for a PHEV operating as EV-only would see 5 times as much usage as a 75 kWh BEV for the same distance.
Case in point, a coworker has boasted for the past 10+ years about not having to use gas for his 30-40 mile round trip commute with his Chevy Volt. He charges at home and at work.
Just this past year while on a road trip his Volt broke down and had to be towed to a dealership. The dealer said it needed a new battery pack at a cost of $25000. The car had about 70,000 miles on it (maybe less). He ended up towing it to a major city 2 hours away to have a refurbished pack installed for about $8000 at a specialty shop. Even at this lower cost, his car was essentially totaled.
I have to wonder if he would have had a much better outcome with a pure BEV, as he used the gas motor very little and put (I believe) a strain on the much smaller PHEV battery pack. Essentially he put 70000 x 5 = 350,000 BEV equivalent miles on that little 16kWh pack.