Why did they even bother?

Saw an ad on TV the other day for a Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid van. I thought I didn't see correctly when they claimed "up to 33 miles range" under battery power.

Nope, went to their web site and it was stated there as well.

Why would they even bother. Is there some government welfare payment for making it? Does it qualify for some kind of tax credit to the buyer?

Would anyone here buy one?

Just some ruminations of an old phart that can not currently ride and has too much time on his hands.

Can not edit title but "then" should have been "they" :dopeslap:

Plug in hybrid. If you're running a short errand, the engine won't come on to generate battery power. Like the Volt.

Bud, I hadn't noticed it. Now that you point it out, I'm truly horrified.

Typical "plug in" hybrid. Which is the type that actually makes sense until charging the all electric cars gets figured out.

Runs just like a regular vehicle on gas. Take the kiddos across country...just keep gas in it. Still gets WAY better fuel mileage than the all gasoline version. When at home, plug it in. Many commutes or trips to the store for shopping are under 10 miles each way. No gas used.

It is all in the context. I had a Ford C-Max hybrid. Absolutely loved it. They make a plug in hybrid version of the same car, it would have been able to do 80% of the drives I took. Until you actually drive the better hybrid vehicles, you cannot imagine how well developed they are. I just wish the cost was lower so the manufacturers were making profits on them. Then about every vehicle could be bought with that package.

That 33 mile range would handle the commute for all but one of my various family members here in WA without having to plug in at work, even if they detoured for errands after work (the other one would get to work and halfway home just on battery, and she could plug in at work if she wanted). That means during the week, almost every week, they'd use no gas. So, while I think it sounds silly at first as well, for most commuters it probably makes great sense.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

And mine too! Bud you often start a thread that generates some thought and interesting comments.

My wife has a Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid (her second one, actually). It gets about 20 miles of range in EV mode. She has a short commute, and most days she doesn't burn any gas. We've got solar panels on the house that were generating more power over the course of a year than we used, some years, before we got plug-in cars. So electricity is cheap (by San Diego standards). So, both cheaper and cleaner than burning gas. Does the math of the extra purchase/lease price work out? Don't know, don't care. We wanted to burn less gas to mitigate climate change. We did lease the cars. The first one was the first car we'd ever leased, but I felt that a lease was the right way to go due to changing technology. Ford was very anxious to lease us another one: they paid the last three payments on the old lease, put us in a slightly higher-optioned car, with no money out of pocket and payment reduction of $50/month! I guess they're not hot sellers, but my wife loves hers.