Plug-in hybrid cars are gaining ground in the race with their electric rivals

There has been an increase in sales of cars that can travel short distances on electricity alone and have a gasoline engine for longer journeys .

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In late 2010, General Motors sought to take over Toyota's successful Prius hybrid with the Volt plug-in hybrid - a car capable of run short distances on electricity alone and fire up a gasoline engine for long trips.

But the Volt and other cars like it struggled to win over drivers, as many early adopters opted for all-electric cars like Tesla's Model S and Nissan Leaf. G.M. quietly phased out the Volt in 2019 as it took aim at all-electric cars.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Obsolescence: Sales of plug-in hybrids are increasing in the United States, in part due to the recent spike in gasoline prices. Automakers sold a record 176,000 such cars last year, according to Wards Intelligence, up from 69,000 in 2020. This year, sales of plug-in hybrids could hit 180,000, analysts say, even as the overall market for new cars fell to 14.4 million from 15.3 million a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive.

All-electric cars seized around 5% of the new-car market, and most analysts and industry executives expect it to eventually outperform hybrids as automakers pledge to eliminate tailpipe emissions, a major contributor to climate change. But hybrids - led by a growing selection of plug-ins - still account for around 7% of sales, and that number could rise for at least a few years.

Automakers are struggling to ramp up production of electric vehicles because battery supply is not growing fast enough. Partly because of this, the average cost of a new electric car is now $66,000. This provides an opening for plug-in hybrids.

Unlike conventional hybrids, which can only be refueled with gasoline and are dependent on engines, plug-in varieties can run entirely on battery power. And because these cars have smaller batteries than all-electric vehicles, they can be more affordable. Cars are also attractive because they don't need to be plugged in for many hours to be fully charged. On road trips, they can be refueled, eliminating the range anxiety that keeps many people from buying electric cars.

" I think some automakers, including G.M., were way too quick to reject P.H.E.V.s in the face of all-electric vehicles," said Karl Brauer, executive director of research at iSeeCars.com, an automotive research firm. "And I wonder if they regret this decision, given the supply chain issues and price increases we are currently experiencing."

Mr. Bauer and others also note that many car buyers are not ready to buy electric vehicles.A survey by J.D. Power found that one of the main reasons people give for not buying one is that there is no there aren't enough public charging stations in the U.S. United States. And charging an electric car at public stations for around 30-60 minutes - a typical rate even for the fastest chargers - or overnight at home is an inconvenience that many drivers are unwilling to tolerate.

Plug-in hybrids were designed as a transitional technology that introduced people to the benefits of electric driving while alleviating their concerns about technology. But when gas was around $3 a gallon, the savings these cars made didn't always add up.

Now when gas fill-ups can cost $100 or more, some people give these cars a second look. This allows buyers of some of the major models, like the Toyota RAV4 Prime, Jeep Wrangler 4xe, BMW 330e, and Hyundai Santa Fe plug-in, to qualify for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. /p>

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