What is the Mach E's closest competitor?

[Mach1E]

No hard data off of PHEVs, just lots of experience maintaining ICE engines, including infrequently driven ones (i.e. when I used to own a ICE mustang and parked it all winter). If you don't get your engine up to operating temperature regularly, you will get a lot of excess water in your oil, meaning you need more frequent changes with higher quality (ideally full synthetic) oil. It also isn't great for rings and seals. Hoses will dry rot more, and you also have the issue of rodents nesting in the engine and chewing on all of the wiring unless you heat it up to drive them off regularly. Carbon build up, especially on valves in direct injection engines, is also an issue if you don't reach temperatures to burn it off.

Running below temp (i.e. brief start ups of the ICE engine in a PHEV) will cause excess wear to the moving parts of the engine as well because they are running cold and more frequently without lubrication (waiting for the oil to pump).

You also have the issue of gas going bad. "Modern" gas with mandated ethanol doesn't last that long before it starts taking on water and dropping the octane rating. You want to go through the tank about every 6 to 8 weeks to be safe, or use fuel stabilizer to extended it.

I had a feeling this may be the case.

Short version- the rules are totally different when an engine is designed to work this way.

Your above arguments are exactly the ones used when “displacement on demand” and “stop start” tech came out.

You are correct that these things would cause excessive wear on old ICE engines. But when they design them for this purpose……. It works fine.

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[Mach1E]

In terms of growth rate vs growth numbers... There are more BEV's than Plug in Hybrids in the US.


721K Plug in hybrids in the US in 2021.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/801232/hev-sales-in-the-us/#:~:text=Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,the United States 2016-2021&text=There were around 721,100 plug,the United States in 2021.


1.4M BEVs in the US in 2021
https://electrek.co/2022/08/24/current-ev-registrations-in-the-us-how-does-your-state-stack-up/

Yes, as a result of government mandates and incentives. Add that to supply chain issues and we have a huge shortage (RAV 4 prime).

Again, this is why I wish we would focus more on them. Give us more cars like the RAV4 prime.

Too many issues with everyone going all electric. PHEV is the perfect stepping stone.

 

[sotek2345]

I had a feeling this may be the case.

Short version- the rules are totally different when an engine is designed to work this way.

Your above arguments are exactly the ones used when “displacement on demand” and “stop start” tech came out.

You are correct that these things would cause excessive wear on old ICE engines. But when they design them for this purpose……. It works fine.

But how many manufacturers go through the effort to redesign the ICE engine vs. just dropping in the ~15 year old I4 that they have been using in everything. It isn't exactly an advertising point.

 

[devmach-e]

An infrequently run ICE engine just seems like a recipe for lots of maintenance headaches to me. If I had one I would either want to make sure I never use the ICE engine (treat it like a very limited range EV), or make sure the ICE engine gets a good workout at least once a week (run for 20+ minutes to get up to operating temp). Either situation seems less than ideal to me. BEV all the way!

Chevy Volt owners with little time on the engine, and mostly driven on electricity, report few maintenance issues related to the engine. Same for Toyota's plug-ins.

 

[devmach-e]

But how many manufacturers go through the effort to redesign the ICE engine vs. just dropping in the ~15 year old I4 that they have been using in everything. It isn't exactly an advertising point.

The smart ones do that to avoid lots of warranty claims down the road (50K mile warranty on the powertrain, 100K miles or more on the hybrid side of things).

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