- GM CEO Mary Barra said the company remains committed to an “electric vehicle future,” despite industry headwinds.
- Barra said the automaker is looking into hybrid options in the meantime, as it doesn’t currently offer any.
- There’s only one problem with plug-in hybrids, and that’s making sure people actually plug them in.
On paper, China Chevrolet Equinox Plus Hybrid Seems like a great opportunity for the United States. Here’s a familiar nameplate, in a practical crossover body, combining a gas engine and battery power for more than 600 miles of total range on our test cycle in China.
But for several reasons, they are not coming to this market, leaving Americans with Equinox gas and… Instead, it became the popular Equinox EV. In the United States, GM has largely moved away from hybrid power of all kinds in order to focus on, says CEO Mary Barra. It’s called the “end game.”: An all-electric future.
At the Automotive Press Association conference in Detroit on Monday, Barra spoke out about an uncomfortable truth about hybrid cars in America.
“What we also know today about hybrid cars is that most people don’t plug them in,” she said. “That’s why we try to be very thoughtful about what we do from a hybrid perspective and a plug-in hybrid perspective.”
You can see Barra’s statements about hybrids Reuters Reporter Kalia Hall in the video below.
Barra’s comments are perhaps the most revealing admission yet — and certainly from the auto industry’s highest-ranking executive — about a fact in the auto industry that is widely known but barely acknowledged.
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Typically pair a gasoline engine with a small battery to enhance fuel economy and range by occasionally running on electric power. These batteries are usually larger than those found in regular hybrid batteries, requiring them to be connected to the electrical current. They are especially popular in Europe and China, but require someone to put gas in the car and plug it in using a wall socket or a traditional home EV charger. Since plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) can typically cover between 30 and 50 miles on battery power alone, they are often touted as a way to bridge the gap between gas cars and electric cars.
In 2024, InsideEVs contributor John Voelker Investigate user behavior around PHEVspecifically whether or not the owners actually deliver them. He reached out to several automakers to ask if they had, or could provide, up-to-date data on the plug-in habits of these cars; They either won’t provide that data or can’t say so.
That may be because plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have come under fire in recent years Multiple studies “We found that current plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) exhibit significantly lower electric drive shares than assumed in the EPA classification,” the International Council on Clean Transportation reported in 2022. “A result of the relatively low electric motor share is that real-world fuel consumption is 42% to 67% higher than EPA-labeled fuel consumption.”
2025 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Photo by: Mitsubishi
In other words, because drivers aren’t plugging their cars in, they’re not getting the most out of their engines—they’re running a near-dead battery and using a lot more fuel than they should. The problem was worse in Europewhere PHEV models are more prevalent. Studies show that not using the plug meant emissions were much higher than expected.
With electric vehicle sales slowing in America, some automakers have pointed to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) as a better near-term solution to electrification. Hyundai, Toyota, Volvo, and Mazda are among the companies that currently offer several PHEV models. But cracks may appear in the market, too. Without stricter fuel economy regulations or tax breaks for electric vehicles, the parent company of Jeep and Chrysler Stellantis recently chose to phase out its PHEV models entirelydespite being behind the best-selling PHEV model in the country.
Recently, automakers have pinned their hopes on it Extended Range Electric Vehicles, or EREVs. It can be described as a kind of PHEV in reverse. They start with an electric car-sized battery and platform, and add a gas engine to recharge that battery. However, if EREVs also need to be plugged in and filled with gas, automakers may have exactly the same problem with users.
In GM’s case, its only hybrid is the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray and its only PHEV models are sold in China. The automaker helped popularize this field more than 15 years ago with the groundbreaking Chevrolet Volt. Now, amid the electric car slowdown, GM is looking to bring more hybrid and PHEV models to the United Statesperhaps in 2027. It remains to be seen how users will be educated to connect them.
However, Barra said she does not regret GM’s original strategy of bypassing hybrids and going straight to electric vehicles, even though the automaker received criticism for the move.
“With everything we knew at the time, we would have made the same decision,” Parra said. “We have to be very thoughtful about our capital and how we deploy it.”
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
