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plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) cause as much pollution as petrol cars, a new report Has disclosed.
Different fully electric carshybrids run on electricity batteries As well as combustion engines, there are sold by car manufacturers As a way to cover long distances but still reduce emissions,
However, an analysis of 800,000 European cars between 2021 and 2023 revealed that plug-in hybrids have pumped out almost five times the amount Laboratory tests have shown that “real world” pollution is higher.
Nonprofit advocacy group Transportation & Environment found that PHEVs emit only 19 percent less CO2 Compared to petrol and diesel cars – but laboratory tests previously suggested they emit 75 per cent less pollution.
Data was collected from onboard fuel consumption meters, which showed that real-world carbon dioxide emissions were 4.9 times higher than those in standardized laboratory tests, up from 3.5 times higher in 2021.
Sofia Navas Goehlke, a researcher in transportation and environment and co-author of the report, told Guardian: “Real-world emissions are increasing, while official emissions are decreasing. It is this gap that is getting worse and is a real problem. As a result, PHEVs pollute almost as much as petrol cars.”
Even when the cars were driven in electric-only mode, researchers found that the electric motors were not strong enough to operate alone. This meant that their engines also needed to burn fossil fuels for about a third of the distance covered in electric mode.
Hybrid emissions are also increasing due to the trend toward longer electric ranges. Larger batteries make vehicles heavier and hence, burn more fuel in engine mode.
These heavy vehicles consume more energy than small cars when running on batteries. The data shows that plug-in hybrids with electric ranges of more than 75 km actually emit more CO2 on average than plug-in hybrids with ranges between 45 and 75 km.
The European car industry wants hybrids to be allowed to be sold after the EU’s 2035 deadline for zero-emission cars.
Lucien Mathieu, Car director of transport and environment, said: “Weakening the rules for plug-in hybrids is like punching a hole in Europe’s car CO2 legislation. Instead of driving the market towards affordable zero-emission cars, carmakers will flood it with expensive, polluting PHEVs. This risks sinking the EV investment certainty that the market desperately needs.”
The report also found that PHEVs cost drivers €500 (£430) more per year in fuel and charging than claimed, due to hidden fuel consumption in both electric and engine modes.
Plug-in hybrids are more expensive to run, but also more expensive to buy than clean alternatives. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the average selling price of a PHEV in Germany, France and the UK in 2025 is €55,700 (£48,300). This is €15,200 (£13,200) more than the average price of a battery electric car.