It adds a lot of weight for not a lot of benefit, on either side. A pure-electric drive gives amazing benefits in torque and latency reduction, but the motors on MHEVs and even PHEVs don't give enough "oomph" to justify the complexity, the cost, or the added weight.

The Koeingsegg One:1 is exciting. The BMW i3 is exciting. The Jaguar I-Pace is exciting. Heck, the Tesla is exciting. The BMW 3-series hybrid is $15,000 more for not a whole lot.

> exciting

(Full disclosure: two working parents, three young kids, not a lot of spare time and even less spare money...)

We own two (ICE) cars, a seven-seater that's diesel-powered and a four-seater that's petrol. Neither of them are even remotely "exciting" (both have the smallest, most economical engines that the manufacturer offers for that model). We would not be looking for "exciting" in a replacement for either of them, either.

What I am looking for is a like-for-like replacement that isn't hugely more expensive.

With electric, I'm struggling.

We [very briefly] sat in the battery version of the four-seater in the showroom when we bought the petrol, it cost more than twice as much, range was dire, and the sales guy pointed out that it wouldn't hold its purchase value as battery technology is changing so rapidly. So that was that :(

I would love to switch to electric, but right now we don't have the spare cash to throw around.

"Exciting" might be great for persuading petrolheads and/or the wealthy and/or the virtue-signallers to switch, but for everyone else, what can pure-electric offer?

Insightful!

I feel the same, I sold my car 8 years ago and never bought a new one since, I'm planning to get a new one (hopefully kids, old parents, I'm gonna need it sooner or later) but I am struggling too.

I usually use the Renault Zoe as an example, the EV model costs 40% more (~26,000 euros VS ~37,000 euros) for no - obvious - added benefit, it's the same exact car.

I've been researching and thanks to state bonuses I could buy a Renault Twingo EV for ~17,000 euros, it's a very good deal but it's a smaller car, not that it's a problem now, I still mainly drive inside the city, but it makes me think of the economy of the operation: I need it for a future larger family, I should settle down on a smaller car.

I'm probably getting it anyway and I am also excited about it, but really it shouldn't be about excitement, it should be about being a better deal overall.

Because it drives like crap compared to an all petrol vehicle, that's why. Toyotas feel like they're all made for grannies - you step on the acceleration and it's just sluggish. My mom test drived one and bought a Seat instead. Another guy told me he drove a company Toyota hybrid and he'll be getting a petrol BMW. There you have it.

It’s Toyota dragging down the technology by making horrible cars, clearly, themselves conscious or not.

Like, Fisker Karma was basically as fast and quick as a Tesla. Lots of hybrid hypercars are faster than petrol counterparts. It’s Toyota Prius that’s smearing hybrids.