Who is Andy Palmer and why is he saying “Hybrids are a road to hell?” Admittedly, Palmer is not a household name, but he is well known in the auto industry. He went to work for Nissan in 2002 and rose quickly to become the chief operating officer and head of global planning for the company. In 2014, he became CEO of Aston Martin, a position he held for six years.
Some call him “the godfather of the electric car” because during his time at Nissan he pushed for the development of the LEAF, the world’s first mass market electric car. He told Business Insider recently, “I wish I could say that it was driven by a motivation to better the world. But actually, it was driven by the Toyota Prius kicking our ass.” Rather than just copying Toyota’s success with its hybrid drivetrain, Palmer said he pushed Nissan to build a fully electric vehicle, a plan that resulted in the LEAF after CEO Carlos Ghosn added his support for the idea.
Palmer told Business Insider that delaying transitioning to EVs in favor of selling hybrids was a “fool’s errand” and warned that automakers doing so risked falling even further behind Chinese EV companies. “Hybrids are a road to hell. They are a transition strategy, and the longer you stay on that transition, the less quickly you ramp up into the new world. If you just delay transitioning to EVs by diluting it with hybrids then you are more uncompetitive for longer, and you allow the Chinese to continue to develop their market and their leadership. I honestly think it’s a fool’s errand.”
Hybrids had a window where they were relevant, but these days there doesn’t appear to be any real reason for them to be made—they’re just the worst of both worlds.
At this point we’re taking winter cabin trips in EVs here in Norway. They’re fine. And the new sales statistics are almost all electric now—helped by taxes that make fossil cars as expensive as EVs :)
In Norway you have enough EVs to get the needed infrastructure to charge as needed. Not everyone has that, while gas is available everywhere (this is specific to the US and Canada - the only places I personally drive). There are EV chargers in the US, you can get most places - but you sometimes need to plan your charges to make the next one.
Yes they have many of the downsides from both technologies but they also have upsides from both too. In a phev you get to drive most of your miles on electric, but can refuel in minutes and don’t have range anxiety, and have a longer range than any ev or gas vehicle. Mine gets 600+ miles (1000km) on a full tank that only gets filled maybe twice a year for the 6000 miles (10000km) I drive.