I was at SEAT today. Their all electric concept car is five years from the showroom. They will have a plug-in hybrid available later this year. I’m still not sure whether these cars are a necessary stage between petrol and 100% electric. On the one hand the hybrids allow quiet, lower polluting, short range urban travel (@50km) while also allowing longer petrol fuelled journeys. On the other hand the complexity of two drive systems operating in tandem means these cars have greater embedded carbon in their manufacture (roughly equivalent to six years of use?). I wonder whether hybrid drivers are more likely to move on to 100% electric?
Can we apply the drugs argument – Marijuana is a gateway drug to Heroin, hybrids are a gateway to all electric. Bad analogy actually, dope smokers can move on to harder drugs, but overall evidence discredits the ‘gateway’ theory.
