Since last year, electric cars have witnessed a significant and noticeable increase in sales, according to Cars website figures, which raises questions about the reason for the failure of hybrid cars.
In 2010, hybrid cars were seen as the technology that would change the world, but electric cars quickly outperformed and captured the lion’s share of the market.
For example, Volkswagen, which is today a global producer of electric cars, got rid of all hybrid models years ago.
Why did hybrid cars fail?
slashgear answers that the short answer can be boiled down to power, costs, technology, safety and infrastructure.
The source explained the answer by noting that the hybrid car is “not powerful enough” compared to its electric counterpart, and it consumes a lot of energy, and therefore, it is “not an ideal solution” to reduce energy consumption.
The cost of purchasing a hybrid car exceeds $50,000, while the prices of most electric cars range between $30,000 and $40,000.
Regarding safety, slashgear cited two incidents that tarnished the reputation of hybrid cars, the first of which was in 2019 when a hydrogen plant exploded in Santa Clara, California. Just weeks later, a petrol station in Norway followed suit. It was then that people realized that this type of fuel was “not the safest option”.
Another obstacle to the hybrid car boom is related to infrastructure. In 2019, there were only a few hundred hybrid car charging stations around the world, most of them concentrated in Japan, Asia and Europe, according to Statista.
On the other hand, we note that the United States alone has about 43,000 charging stations for electric cars, according to data from the US Department of Energy.