International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT): “Real‑world usage of plug‑in hybrid vehicles in the United States” (Dec 2022)
This study shows that PHEV owners are not plugging in nearly as often as regulators assume, and therefore end up driving on gasoline far more than expected.
Key findings from the ICCT study:
- Real‑world electric‑drive share is 26%–56% lower than EPA assumptions.
- Real‑world fuel consumption is 42%–67% higher than EPA window‑sticker values.
- Many PHEV owners rarely or never plug in.
- As a result, PHEVs often behave like heavy, inefficient gasoline cars.
A good example of why “models” tend to be useless.
Similarly, as noted in another post, ending meat consumption to reduce livestock herds and their belching of methane gas sounds like a climate change solution. Except that published research recognizes that when the grasslands return to wild animals, instead of domestic cattle or sheep, the grass grazing wild animals substantially increase in number to the point they are emitting much the same methane as the domestic herds were doing.
But the models never thought of that.
Climate science is full of assumptions and assertions driving models that miss reality.
