The Swiss canton of Valais removed subsidies for plug-in hybrid vehicles following a report that showed they offered little benefit in terms of emissions and fuel consumption on mountainous roads.
This study was carried out at the request of the Valais authorities by the company Impact Living, a company which is active as an assistant project manager.
According to this study, “the quantitative results (measurements of actual fuel consumption) show that plug-in hybrid vehicles fall far short of their promises and offer only very slight advantages (if any) compared to a conventional combustion engine. “.
One of the study’s authors, Marc Muller, an energy engineer, told Swiss public radio RTS that these vehicles are “a scam of CO2 standards, climate targets and consumers!”
The study shows that plug-in hybrids, in the reality of the topography of Valais, a very mountainous region, “emit up to almost 4 times more CO2 than advertised” by the manufacturers.
According to the study, “even a driver with charging stations at home and at work and making short trips does not reach the values of the manufacturers”.
“Hybrid vehicles are often advertised by manufacturers as 1.5-2.5 liter per 100 kilometers, but in reality they consume between 4 and 7 liters, like diesel vehicles,” Muller said. , at RTS.
Valais, which funded the Impact Living study, has already removed subsidies for these vehicles.
In 2020, the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), which analyzed the behavior of three of the best-selling models this year, had already affirmed the CO2 emissions of plug-in hybrid vehicles remain higher than what manufacturers officially announce.
Studies by the NGO International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) also concluded that the real-life CO2 emissions of plug-in hybrids were generally higher than the measurements communicated during their approval process.
For many experts, the plug-in hybrid combines the worst of the two worlds, namely the drawbacks of heat engines (air pollution) and those of electric motors (high weight and price due to the two engines).
When they are not regularly recharged, these cars suffer from very high consumption. But, used correctly, and for some drivers who combine long distances on highways and urban use, the plug-in hybrid remains an alternative to diesel, fallen out of favor since the scandal of the rigged engines of Volkswagen.