Plug-in Prius is NOT a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle!
Even if you plug-it in, it's still a hybrid
It’s a plug-in hybrid Prius
I’m a pretty big fan of AutoWeek’s Mark Vaughn, so I’ve been following his EV Adventure’s blog the last few weeks. Recently, Mark had been driving the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, but that vehicle has now been replaced with a Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid, probably to be followed by the Chevy Volt.
But don’t dare ask Mark about his new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
“When they dropped off the plug-in Prius last week, the guy made a point to say that it was a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) and not a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). What? I don’t think this is any big discrepancy. Did the people doing the arm-waving about the Volt not realize it had an internal-combustion gasoline engine in it? If it has a gasoline engine, it’s a hybrid. Whether it’s a series or parallel hybrid is interesting but not a big enough deal that we should storm the General Motors Tech Center with pitch forks and torches demanding the marketing department be carried out nude.”
Anyway, in lieu of this week’s hybrid versus EV name calling, I thought Mark’s take was pretty funny.
Ultimately, the masses are only going to be concerned with convenience, comfort, performance and most important, cost-effectiveness. OK, also reliability and a few other things as well, but you get the point.
