4 Top Plug-in Hybrids, Tested

The big fear of drivers of electric vehicles? Getting stranded with a dead battery. But what if you could bring a charger along with you? That's the idea of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), which offers electric-only power for short daily ?commutes, backed up by a gasoline engine that ?provides propulsion for longer distances. It seems like a win-win?the eco-friendliness of an EV with no range restrictions. Depending on your driving habits, you could go weeks or months without filling up at a gas station, and electricity is about one-third the cost per mile of petroleum. Of course, critics note that a lot of that energy for charging a car comes from coal or natural gas electricity, not renewable sources. And when running on gasoline a plug-in can't match the fuel economy of a conventional gas?electric hybrid or even a fuel-efficient economy car. Plus, those extra batteries are expensive?the additional cost takes years to pay off in fuel savings.

Why, then, do carmakers even bother with plug-ins? Government mandates are a big reason. Starting with the 2015 model year, California requires that 3 percent of an automaker's sales in that state come from zero-emissions vehicles. And PHEVs play a big part in raising corporate average fuel economy numbers, so they have a role in nearly every automaker's future product plans. What's certain is that we're going to see more PHEVs on the market in the coming years. Do they offer the best of both worlds, or are they boondoggles aimed purely at satisfying government regulations?

To find out, we took a car from each of the four brands that currently have plug-ins on the showroom floor: Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, and Honda, which sells its PHEV Accord only in California and New York. Starting from our Manhattan offices, we drove highways and back roads up to Monticello, N.Y., and tested straight-line performance at the ?Monticello Motor Club. Then we put each vehicle through a maximum-range city-driving loop with the climate control and radio off. For that last test only the Volt guarantees full-time electric operation; the other three kick in the gasoline engine under situations such as full throttle or high speeds. With careful driving we still kept up with traffic in the other three without the use of the gas engines, so our results reflect electric-only power. Only the Prius was a disappointment; the rest offer a rewarding driving experience and are a compelling preview of a piece of the automotive future.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/comparisons/4-top-plug-in-hybrids-tested?src=rss

john l smith apple earnings the glass castle jennifer hudson trial north korea threat brandon jacobs brandon jacobs