204
Plug-in hybrids use three times more fuel than manufacturers claim, analysis finds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
204 points (93.2% liked)
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I think it's more like Apple saying you get 24 hours of battery life on an iPhone, but in reality, if you use it frequently or play games, the battery underperforms to the stated life. If these vehicles are driven aggressively or not recharged at mfg expected intervals, like fleet utilization, that would skew the general mpg for the population. I'm not saying that's what happening, but it's a possible explanation.
People are buying PHEVs and not plugging them in. Ever. Service centers can see how often the batteries are charged and it is common to see people who never charge their PHEV.
Part of the problem is auto consumers are idiots, and years ago at car shows, these cars were being marketed as "self charging".
This is not new. When VW first sold the Beetle to America, they advertised it as maintenance free because it was air cooled. People never changed the oil.
The level of STEM ignorance has never been this bad. People have no idea how anything works, and don't care.
I guess it's just that 300% on average seems like a lot, y'know? Like, if the average iPhone user was getting just 8 hours of an advertised 24, people would be pretty pissed. They'd probably ask for testing that better reflects real-world usage ;)
But if 50% of iPhone users are professional mobile gamers, their utilization is an outlier skewing the sample. I'd like to see the population in the sample for this study. For the average PHEV driver, they probably get close to the mfg estimate when driven as expected but the generalized data encompasses non standard users.
ICE vehicle manufacturers don't give MPG estimates based on burning out at every stop light, driving with various octane fuels, or many other factors that can effect fuel economy. They give estimates based on a certain usage. I have a Subaru WRX and average 2-3 more mpg than mfg estimates on hwy usage. That difference is in my favor, but it still shows that estimates are just estimates based on a baseline use.
If Apple were dismissing half their users as outliers, I still think people would be pretty pissed...
Based on what though? Is this just an assumption?
Unfortunately (and annoyingly), the Guardian doesn't link to the study. I took a quick look and found a similar study from 2022 (PDF) but nothing recent. Their conclusions are similar and they do differentiate between private and fleet vehicles.
Yea. All of my theories on this are just based on assumption. Everything I mentioned is probable and at some degree does play a part in the numbers. Some people drive crazy, some don't charge, etc. There are some other anecdotes in this thread that support some of my claims. One comment mentioned a PHEV driver thought the battery recharged while driving, not knowing it needs to be plugged in. That's certainly a more extreme case, but I would imagine there a lots of users that drive too long between charges. IF that is happening widespread, then people are using the vehicles outside of mfg specs. We don't know the exact reason and probably never will get that sort of detail, but it's a possibility, and if it's true, that would take the liability off of the mfg imo. All speculation though.
Outrage seems to be inversely proportional to experienced convenience, not necessarily performance disparity.