Vehicle Described as ‘Hybrid’ Uses Engine Primarily, Battery for Advertising Purposes
PARIS — The owner’s manual of the vehicle described in its advertising as “a zero-compromise hybrid that delivers performance and responsibility” contains, in the appendix whose font size reflects its importance to the marketing team, the information that the battery-electric range is 35 kilometres and that the combustion engine is used for all journeys exceeding this range or when the battery is depleted, which it is after the first 35 kilometres, producing an ownership experience that is electric for the commute and petrol for everything else.
“I drive 40 kilometres to work,” confirmed one owner whose commute exceeds the battery range by a ratio that the hybrid designation manages without resolving. “The first 35 are electric. The last 5 are petrol. The return journey is entirely petrol. I recharge overnight to do the first 35 electric again. The vehicle is correctly described as a hybrid. I am less certain about the ‘responsibility’ part of the zero-compromise promise.”
The Green Credential Question
The plug-in hybrid vehicle’s environmental benefit is real and range-dependent: driving within the electric range produces zero direct emissions. Driving beyond it produces the combustion engine’s emissions. The net environmental benefit depends entirely on the proportion of distance driven within the electric range, which for a 40km each-way commute is approximately 44%. A 44% reduction in emissions is significant. A 44% reduction is also not zero, which the vehicle’s name suggests and which the appendix clarifies.
According to ADEME’s vehicle emissions data, plug-in hybrid vehicles driven primarily in urban environments with daily charging produce 40-60% lower lifecycle emissions than equivalent conventional vehicles. The commute produces approximately 44%. The vehicle is working as designed. The appendix is accurate. The advertising is optimistic.
Accurate and honest at Virtuosal.com.
