The have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too feeling of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, is probably why a survey of nearly 500 PCMag readers overwhelmingly voted them as the electric cars they’d be most likely to buy in the next five years.
Unlike a traditional hybrid, which intertwines gas and electric power, PHEVs go a certain number of miles on pure battery power before switching to gas. That means commuting and errands could be run without ever requiring gas power, and the range anxiety that can come with longer trips doesn’t apply. The battery charges through an external port, more like a full EV than a basic hybrid, in which a smaller battery auto-recharges.
While BMW(Opens in a new window) and Toyota(Opens in a new window) make some of the most popular PHEVs, they start at over $40,000 for the Toyota Rav 4 Prime and range to $160,000 for the swankiest Bimmer.
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