Why aren’t all hybrid cars plug-in hybrids?

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In a typical hybrid car (that’s not a plug-in hybrid), the batteries get charged from the engine running and from regenerative braking. They then power an electric motor to assist with locomotion. You might park your car in the garage with the batteries at 90% capacity, or 70%, or 50%, or whatever.

When you pull back out, the batteries are then still at that “whatever” level. Doesn’t really matter. So how does the car’s battery bank know or care whether it was topped off via shore power while parked in the garage? Why is having an onboard charger for shore power (or a plug for a wall charger) such a difficult engineering feat? Seems like it would just require the addition of a part that costs a few hundred bucks.

RVs and boats have a “house” battery bank that generally functions this way. Maybe it’s getting charged by the alternator, maybe by solar panels, maybe by shore power. But hybrid cars having a shore power option (i.e. PHEV) seems like a real premium option that is not easily built.

What am I missing? Why does the battery bank care where it got its charge from?

In: Technology

10 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Plug in hybrids require a much bigger battery, and big batteries are expensive and heavy.

There is indeed some benefit from making a car a plug in hybrid, especially if the driver typically doesn’t drive more than the battery-only range. This allows for a lot less gasoline usage than a regular hybrid. However, actual cost savings depend on the local prices of gas and electricity.

With a regular hybrid, the battery is only really used when you’re accelerating, so during the last few seconds/minutes while you’re decelerating into your garage, it’s being constantly charged by the gas engine. It never gets low enough to the point where it needs to be charged via plugin.

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