CO2 emissions

“Much worse”: The big plug-in hybrid lie

They are supposed to offer the comfort of a fuel-powered vehicle and the environmental benefits of an electric one, but new data from Brussels shows that plug-in hybrids produce significantly more CO2 emissions than previously thought.

While conventional hybrid vehicles only contain a small battery to slightly reduce fuel consumption when starting up, plug-in hybrids enable purely electric driving over short distances. Such cars usually have a range of around 50 to 80 kilometers in electric mode and a greater additional range when running on a secondary fuel such as petrol or diesel.

However, plug-in hybrids appear to consume significantly more fuel than previously assumed. According to a recent study by the European Commission, based on driving data from around 600,000 cars, they produce around 3.5 times the emissions officially estimated according to the WLTP test procedure. The problem is therefore behind the wheel.