ROME – Buying a plug-in hybrid car may not be the ideal solution, in a period of electric transition, to save fuel (even up to 80%) and cut CO2. In fact, if the car is not used in electric mode and the battery is not recharged frequently but is driven as if it were a normal petrol or diesel car, both consumption and emissions can rise considerably compared to what is declared by the manufacturers. This gives rise to a double problem: both linked to the pockets of consumers and to the state budget, given that, practically everywhere, the purchase of plug-in cars enjoys public incentives to help cut emissions.
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But how to get motorists to recharge plug-in hybrid cars more often? An original proposal comes from the United States: to adopt a fuel tank with limited capacity, instead of recharging the lithium battery faster. The analysts of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) put it forward, reporting the data of a research conducted by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) from which it emerges that, due to a lower average distance traveled in electric since 25 at 65% compared to the optimal one, American motorists who drive plug-in cars consume up to 67% more fuel than the homologation data.
The proposal to make the tank smaller is part of a package of measures which, according to ICCT analysts, could be adopted by the authorities, first in California and in cascade also outside the US borders. The other measures envisaged are: establish minimum electrical autonomy requirements for plug-in hybrid vehicles and a monitoring by the EPA through the diagnostic systems of the effective electric distance of the cars on the road. The theme of the greater environmental impact of plug-in hybrid cars compared to what was declared by the manufacturers during the approval phase has also been the subject of debate in Europe for some time. Starting with the need to make current emissions tests more realistic, which do not provide for the measurement of consumption and emissions for plug-in cars even in the worst conditions. That is to say when the battery is flat and the internal combustion engine also works to recharge it.
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The accusation is that the current laboratory approval tests detect CO2 emissions up to 4 times lower to the real ones. Under observation is the fuel consumption figure, too underestimated. To solve the problem, Brussels is allegedly preparing for a tightening, introducing the so-called ‘utility factor (UF)’. This is a number – introduced by the Society of Automotive Engineers – adopted to balance vehicle emissions between its electric operation and exclusively with the internal combustion engine and which, according to rumors, is expected to increase to 800 in 2025 and 4,000 from 2027 .
The new parameters would lead to a plug-in hybrid that homologates today’s emissions 50 grams of CO2/km to reach the 125 grammi in 2027. Which would mean an increase in the cost of ownership and the definitive exit from any incentives, aligning plug-ins with ‘normal’ hybrids. But after this tightening will it be better for manufacturers to continue producing plug-in hybrids or will they decide to speed up their conversion to pure electric?