hybrid cars

If you take away one thing from this page: three very different cars are sold today under the word "hybrid", and they will not save you the same money. A mild hybrid (MHEV) never drives on electricity alone — it assists the combustion engine, nothing more. A full hybrid (HEV) drives on electricity in short bursts, mostly in town, and recharges under braking. A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) has a large battery and a socket: plugged in every evening, it covers most daily trips without starting the engine; never plugged in, it burns more than the equivalent petrol car because it carries 200 kilos of unused battery. The ranking below deliberately mixes them, because that is how they are offered to you in a showroom, but every model comes with its architecture spelled out and the warranty term of its traction battery. That pair — architecture and warranty — decides what the car will cost you in seven years, far more than the fuel figure printed on the brochure.