I'm German. My grandpa was an electrical engineer. He is very enthusiastic about his PHEV and talks about it alot. He bought one because not only is he interested, but also PHEV sales got heavily subsidized (i think like 6000€ or smth) and so many people bought one in his area as well. Apparently, a surprising amount of old middle class German people bought PHEVs and literally never charge it. My grandpa told me he onced asked his neighbor for a cable and that thing was brand new.
I'm not sure if its ignorance or deliberate though. If you never use the battery the resale value might be higher? It's also literally just an anecdote but it was surprising
Not plugging it in does not mean the battery is not used, it just means that the battery is always charged by the gasoline engine in the car, rather than from the electric grid
Plus. It will be even worse for the battery as it will always be close to zero (at least in vw group 1.4 phev)
I own one and like it though. But I charge daily (from solar when the weather allows so) and it is sufficient for my commutes so th engine only starts in long trips.
That makes sense! I'd still assume thats way less then ideal on fuel usage. Again anecdotal but my gramps is charging his on a regular wall plug. Takes long but gets the job done. And if not you still get to drive anyway, you're never stuck.
After working in tech (and providing tech support and tutoring), this seems like a typical non-tech-savvy user behavior: Just do what is familiar.
So they got a good deal on a car. It's a car and it drives, and you fill it with gas. It already works, the effort to learn and use the car for more potential is (probably) not worth it to the owner.
You could see the same pattern with people who use office applications on a daily basis but don't bother learning functionality (or even shortcuts).
Yet I am not trying to push the "users are dumb" stereotype, because everyone has their own blind spots in knowledge.
I find the EV only range of those PHEV abysmal, at 60km in the summer with this Mercedes PHEV we have (and 30km in the winter), it hardly covers commute. If they at least remade the balance to have at least 100km in winter for range, that the % of EV only driving would skyrocket.
I'm German. My grandpa was an electrical engineer. He is very enthusiastic about his PHEV and talks about it alot. He bought one because not only is he interested, but also PHEV sales got heavily subsidized (i think like 6000€ or smth) and so many people bought one in his area as well. Apparently, a surprising amount of old middle class German people bought PHEVs and literally never charge it. My grandpa told me he onced asked his neighbor for a cable and that thing was brand new.
I'm not sure if its ignorance or deliberate though. If you never use the battery the resale value might be higher? It's also literally just an anecdote but it was surprising