Plug-In Hybrids Are Here to Stay, but Are We Prioritizing the Right-Sized Vehicles?

Entirely by chance, I spent a recent weekend driving a rented Jeep Wrangler 4xe, the most popular plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) in the US. I had never driven a PHEV before, and I came away disappointed with the way the market is pushing for them without reconciling other negative trends within the EV industry.

I started my weekend in the rental Jeep with a completely drained battery and a full gas tank, so my first several hours of driving were in the standard hybrid mode, where I averaged about 18.5 mpg—slightly below the 20 mpg estimated for the Jeep by the Environmental Protection Agency. Considering most Jeep Wranglers have the aerodynamics of one of Super Mario 64’s Whomps, this was pretty good, especially since I was doing some particularly mountainous driving. When I was able to give the Wrangler a full charge, it was enough to drive one day on electric power.

While I was driving, though, I couldn’t help but wonder about the vehicle’s popularity. The Jeep’s 17.3 kWh battery provided me with about 21 miles of range. A Toyota Prius Prime, another PHEV, offers 44 miles of range on a smaller, 13.6 kWh battery. At a time when market forces and supply chain bottlenecks are causing auto manufacturers to switch from going all-electric to having more PHEVs in their vehicle lineups, this difference in electric efficiency is extremely important. With a lighter vehicle more focused on aerodynamics than rugged off-road looks, a smaller battery can provide about double the range that the larger battery in the Jeep can. While the Jeep’s battery still covers a lot of daily driving, that extra battery size could be put to better use in a smaller vehicle. In a market where the critical minerals needed for vehicle electrification are in short supply and battery supply chains are still being spun up, why is the Jeep so much more popular?

The answer, of course, is that Americans love big vehicles, regardless of their actual driving needs. Only an estimated 10%-15% of Jeep owners take their vehicles off-roading. Similarly, just 30% of pickup drivers report taking their truck off-road more than once a year, only a quarter use it to tow more than once a year, and less than two-thirds use the truck’s bed to haul items more than once a year. Despite that, the best-selling vehicle in the US is the Ford F-Series, with the Chevy Silverado, Ram Pickup, and Jeep Grand Cherokee all in the top 10. Along with the Wrangler, these are vehicles designed for rugged outdoor use—with efficiency concessions to project the image buyers seem to be seeking out.

I’m certainly not the first to complain about the myriad issues associated with Americans’ love affair with huge cars. The ever-increasing vehicle size has caused alarm among everyone from safety watchdogs to parking lot designers. But as the US attempts to electrify every vehicle on the road, the need to conserve battery mineral resources seems to be fundamentally at odds with the desires of the American vehicle-buying public (and the automakers catering to them). If we’re going to get serious about electrifying and decarbonizing the transportation industry, it can’t be done with Wrangler 4xes and F-150 Lightnings. A reckoning is required in the vehicle market between the demands of drivers and the needs of the environment. Otherwise, supply chain issues will continue, and EVs will be a drain on resources rather than a bridge to a cleaner transportation paradigm.