AUTONEWS

Hybrids are the days in England

A British company specializing in fleet management, Miles Consultancy (MC) concluded that models equipped with plug-in hybrid (PHEV) engines obtained averages of 5.9 l / 100 km (40 mpg) instead of 1.8 l / 100 km (130 mpg) which, in their view - should be achieved based on the data claimed by the manufacturers.The conclusion of MC is that users do not recharge their PHEV batteries, using them as mere hybrids, not taking advantage of distances they can travel in electric mode, saving fossil fuel and, per table, polluting emissions.Therefore, the justification for choosing a PHEV instead of a competitor exclusively for gasoline, diesel or 100% electric would be purely economic, to benefit from the 2,500 pounds (£ 2,800) of incentives designed by the British Government. In fact, MC CEO Paul Hollick goes so far as to say this:We have evidence that PHEV drivers do not recharge the batteries of their vehicles because in many cases the cables were still in the bag, inside the original bag and still wrapped in cellophane. "Hollick concludes that "drivers choose not to recharge their batteries, even though it forces them to pay out of pocket the additional cost of fuel."This conclusion of the British company is not exactly a novelty, since it had already been found in the Netherlands that the increase in PHEV sales had been due to state incentives rather than to a pursuit of better consumption and emissions. And the proof that this was the reality was provided by the brutal fall of demand, by this class of vehicles, once the incentives were withdrawn.
This MC analysis is all the more important as the UK market is the largest in Europe for PHEVs, and then 70% of the vehicles with these characteristics are purchased by companies, such as service cars. However, it must be borne in mind that the incentives paid by the various governments are determined in part by the abnormally low - and unrealistic - consumption that the PHEV declare to regulators, even under the WLTP. To accept that a vehicle, has 120 hp and much less if it has 500 hp or more, claims a consumption of only 2 or 3 l / 100 km, it is necessary to have no idea what a car is or how it behaves a motor. combustion. However, that is exactly what the regulator allows (and rewards), accepting a value that is impossible to reach in the first 100 km and practically 'pornographic' in the next few hundred kilometers. Keeping in mind that there is no way to be sure or to assure that PHEV drivers recharge their batteries, which makes it questionable whether they are allowed to advertise excessively low consumption and access incentives which are therefore not justified.