"If you knew today, why bother?" may be the voice of many hybrid and range extender owners today.
Recall that a few years ago, the new energy vehicle market was like a blue ocean, and hybrid and extended range models became the new favorite of many consumers with their unique advantages in oil and electricity.
Imagine the tranquility of electric driving in the city and the ability to travel long distances on the highway on gasoline power, saving money without worrying about battery life.
However, some experienced "old drivers" did not buy this seemingly perfect plan, and they raised their own doubts.
Looking back now, these doubts were not unfounded. Three major weaknesses of hybrid/extended-range models are gradually being exposed.
These problems are indeed difficult to ignore for car owners.
01 Reluctant to burn oil
"It's not that burning oil is really expensive, it's that once you get used to using electricity, it's hard to accept refueling. ”
This sentence may sum up the current mindset of many hybrid and range extender owners.
After all, there is no harm without contrast.
In the days when we were accustomed to being powered by electricity, electricity bills seemed to be a trivial expense.
However, once the pure electric battery life runs out and starts to burn oil, car owners often feel an inexplicable "flesh pain".
They think, "Why don't you find a place to recharge your batteries and save money on gas that can be used to enjoy a good meal?" Anyway, there is no rush to reach the destination. ”
As a result, many car owners have begun to become "power anxious", and it seems that they are constantly looking for charging piles 365 days a year.
The key is that the urban commuting is charged, and the power is also added on the highway, which is very uncomfortable.
As a result, you can often find that in many service areas, some extended-range/hybrid car owners are actually rushing to charge piles.
However, due to the problem of birth defects, the charging efficiency of hybrid/range extender vehicles is not high, and a lot of time is wasted on the road.
Therefore, in the past two years, many car owners have either reversed to fuel or switched to pure electric vehicles, so as not to be caught in the middle of the gas.
02 Electricity is not as comfortable as anyone else's
To put it simply, hybrid/extended-range models have a relatively short pure electric range, resulting in owners often being in a charging state.
It is also for this reason that the number of battery cycles of hybrid/extended-range models far exceeds that of traditional pure electric vehicles.
For example, an average EV may have 200 battery cycles a year, while a hybrid/extended-range model may need up to 1,000 cycles.
This high frequency of use results in a significant acceleration of the battery's health and life degradation.
As a result, after only three or four years, the all-electric range of these models began to be greatly reduced.
But these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Crucially, the cost of repair and maintenance is also much higher than that of pure electric or pure fuel models.
The hybrid/extended-range model has two systems: one electric and one fuel-driven.
This means that both systems require regular maintenance, which can significantly increase the cost and complexity of repairs in the event of a failure.
For car owners, this is not only an economic burden, but also an inconvenience to use.
Such a double burden makes many car owners begin to regret their original choice
They found that instead of maintaining this dual system, which is neither pure electric nor pure fuel, it was better to opt for a more specific drive method.
Whether it is to switch to traditional fuel vehicles or to switch to the pure electric vehicle camp, it is more economical and efficient than this choice between them.
03 Stability is not so reliable
As industry observers have pointed out, hybrid/range-extender models often have stability concerns as they try to merge the two systems – electric and petrol.
In order to control costs, car companies may make compromises on the quality of components.
This means that the pure electric part of this type of model cannot be compared with the professional pure electric model at all.
The parts of the fuel drive part may also be of poor quality.
Theoretically, it would be perfect if a model could be made with an all-electric range of up to 600 kilometers and fuel drive.
However, this ideal state is difficult to achieve in reality, mainly because of cost and technical constraints.
As a result, such vehicles often fail to fully meet the optimal performance standards of fuel or electric vehicles, and are in a state of compromise.
Either use the battery and electronic control of the third-line manufacturer, or use the fuel part of the third-line manufacturer.
What's more, this design compromise has led to stability and reliability issues for the vehicle.
When two systems exist in the same vehicle at the same time, the complexity of the interaction between them increases, which not only makes it more difficult to diagnose, but also more complex and expensive to repair.
Owners may find that their hybrid/range extender vehicles are more prone to problems and cost and time to resolve them than those with a single system.
Therefore, stability issues have become a significant pain point for hybrid/extended range models.
In general, in the past 4-5 years, although the sales of hybrid/extended range have been good, the actual use has not been so ideal.
The result of flattering at both ends is often unpleasing at both ends, which has become a pain for many car owners.