2024-08-13 10:23:24
They are hybrids, but the main engine is not the gasoline one
A new breed of hybrids is expected to attract customers around the world in the coming months.
Electric Extended Range Vehicles (EREVs) bridge the gap between plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars. They run on electricity only, but unlike pure electric cars, they also have an on-board generator that recharges the battery when it is depleted. This eliminates people’s worries about low mileage and being stuck in the middle of the road with a dead battery because the car runs while it’s full of gas and the mileage is huge.
The characteristic of this new kind of hybrids is that
never driven directly by the gasoline engine like other hybrids,
and always from the electric motor. This provides very low fuel consumption and above all emissions advantages compared to the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).
In recent months, China has been pushing this new energy model while Europe is carefully studying it. It could represent a new step towards the long and proved difficult and even painful transition to the 100% electric car.
Interestingly, at the beginning of the century, just such cars were relatively widespread, because we did not have today’s battery technologies – they were much more modest.
Remember the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera duo? Also the BMW i3 REX or Fisker Karma, which due to another bankruptcy of the company has now become the Karma Revero.
More recently, Mazda has also come to this technology. The MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV was launched in early 2023 and is equipped with an 830cc rotary engine that keeps the battery well charged as long as there is gas in the tank. And other models are in development, whether by auto giants like Ford or Stellantis, or smaller companies.
EREV batteries have twice the capacity
of plug-in hybrid models, but also half the capacity of current electric cars. The internal combustion engine increases autonomy by driving a generator that produces electricity to power the battery and propel the vehicle.
Manufacturers, it seems, are increasingly convinced that it is these hybrids that can serve as a transition to purely electric cars, because they “drive like electric cars, not gasoline cars.” EREVs are electric cars, although the battery is smaller.
In addition, Europe imposed tariffs from China on pure electric cars, not hybrids. Therefore, EREV models are currently a Chinese specialty, where they occupy an increasingly large market share. In 2023, EREV models make up a quarter of plug-in hybrid cars in the country,
which is an increase of over 10% in market share in just two years
according to data from the IEA (International Energy Agency).
The main specialist in the sector is Li Auto, a high-end SUV maker that has sold 106,200 EREVs in the first four months of this year alone. The L9 crossover for example
is equipped with a 52.3 kWh battery, sufficient for a maximum of 240 km of autonomy,
and an expander, which is in the form of a 1.5-liter gasoline engine. With both motors, this 6-seater is capable of a total of 1,323 km without recharging. But Li Auto is not alone and brands like Avatr, Neta or Voyah soon also launched EREV models, while Xiaomi is also preparing an EREV option for its next SUV.
For now, European manufacturers remain focused on plug-in hybrid technologies, but they could quickly pivot if Europe adopts these vehicles, particularly by relying on partnerships with their Chinese counterparts – Volkswagen and Xpeng, Audi and SAIC, or Stellantis and Leapmotor, whose The C10 SUV is expected on the European market soon. Stellantis is also developing an EREV version of the Ram electric pickup truck. A modification that will be available in the US with a V6 gasoline engine and a 92 kWh battery.
The main advantage of EREV hybrids is their long range. The Chinese model BYD Han DM-i can travel up to 242 km in electric mode and another 1158 km with the help of the range extender (50 liters of gasoline), which also gives a low fuel consumption of 4.3 l/100 km.
Another Chinese – Voyah Free, uses a 56-liter tank with a 33 kWh battery that does not allow more than 160 km of autonomy. But with the 56-liter tank, the car should offer a range of 700 km, which equates to a consumption of 8 l/100 km. It’s nothing impressive.
But not everyone sees EREV the same way. From BMW
are quite skeptical of these cars, considering them financially illogical
CEO Oliver Tsipse recently told investors that plug-in hybrids with current electric range are the “happy medium” and that it is not possible to further increase battery size while keeping the gasoline engine to maintain a reasonable selling price and profitability.
Plug-in models last longer on current
More and more manufacturers are offering cars with a longer electric range for plug-in hybrids to circumvent the new European rules.
The European Commission has declared the official fuel consumption figures for plug-in hybrids to be unrealistic and unattainable simply because most customers drive these cars primarily on gasoline rather than electricity. Within three years, the consumption of plug-in hybrids according to the WLTP standard should be reduced by a factor of three, which should nullify their tax advantages in the majority of countries in Western Europe.
Now the actual fuel consumption of plug-in hybrids is up to 3.5 times higher. According to European standards, electric vehicle use is expected between 70 and 85% of the time, but actually plug-in hybrid cars
only run on battery only between 11 and 15% of the time
Therefore, there is a huge difference between what they call the utility factor (the time used in electricity) theoretically and in reality.
That’s why Europe will review the way plug-in hybrids are rated. Enough to cancel out the tax benefits entirely in most countries. With such prospects, we could say that the European plug-in hybrid market is dead for car manufacturers. But this is not the case, because despite everything, many brands continue to flood the market with increasingly efficient models and above all with a greater electric range. Why?
Because by increasing the electric mileage manufacturers
will be able to artificially increase the known European utility coefficient
For the same number of kilometers driven, the car will be able to run on electricity longer, which on paper (and in practice) will reduce fuel consumption. That is why many manufacturers now offer PHEV models with an electric range of over 100 km. This is the case, for example, with the new Volkswagen Golf (19.7 kWh, 100 km), Passat (19.7 kWh, 120 km), Skoda Superb (25.7 kWh, 135 km) or the new SUV Renault Rafale (22 kWh, 100 km).
And it is not only Europeans who adopt this strategy. Chinese brand MG has also updated its latest plug-in hybrids. The HS model, for example, has doubled its battery size to 24.7 kWh for 121 km in electric mode.
In Germany, hybrid vehicles must offer a range of 80km or more in electric mode to benefit from a tax rate half that of combustion engine models.