Super-Hybrids Are Automakers’ Bridge for EV Skeptics and Curious

(Bloomberg) -- The Mercedes GLC 350e offers four zones of climate control and its headlights project icons onto the pavement — such as a pedestrian — to warn of coming hazards. But the SUV’s most impressive trick is less ostentatious: It can travel from Ossining, New York, to Midtown Manhattan — roughly Don Draper’s commute in — entirely on electrons, with its turbocharged, 4-cylinder gas engine just along for the ride. Then it can turn around and do it again. 

“You start covering a customer’s daily driving entirely when you get into technology like this, which changes the game,” said Bart Herring, vice president of sales and product at Mercedes Benz USA. The SUV provides 50 miles of electric range, what Herring calls the “magic number.” 

As electric car adoption continues in fits and starts, auto executives have created a killer app for the wide swath of American drivers that fall between EV-curious and EV-skeptical: the super hybrid. 

Herring’s magic number is the average daily driving distance of a one-car US household. In addition to the Mercedes, two other models on the American market can handle that mileage entirely on electrons, both from Jaguar Land Rover’s Range Rover marque. 

Lower that figure to 40 miles, and another seven models join the club. Consider them super-hybrids, which promise an almost emission-free road life with a gas-powered safety net. For the most part, they are no-compromise vehicles with no-compromise price tags (the super-hybrid version of the Mercedes GLC starts just shy of $60,000). Toyota, however, has snuck two longer-range models into the race that are easier to reach, the Prius Prime ($32,975) and the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid ($43,865).

Fully electric vehicles have proved far more popular and most auto executives expect them to completely take over the industry. It’s just a question of how soon. BloombergNEF expects plug-in sales to peak at 9.2 million in 2030, with nearly four electric vehicles purchased for every one hybrid.

Yet survey after survey shows many drivers — particularly American ones — are still concerned about electric range, charger availability and charging speed. So-called mild hybrids, which don’t have to be plugged in, have been popular for years in the US. 

With tiny batteries, they often don’t cost much more than gas-only models. However, they seldom can drive exclusively on electrons and make tiny efficiency gains, primarily through regenerative braking. 

Plug-in hybrid batteries are 10 to 20 times larger and offer a corresponding step up in green power. A Toyota Rav4 with a mild-hybrid setup, for example, burns a gallon of gasoline for every 41 miles of urban driving. In comparison, the same car in plug-in form can go 42 miles entirely on electrons. 

The latest crop of super-hybrids goes a step further. The battery on the Mercedes GLE has a capacity of nearly 24 kWh — 28% larger than the power pack in the Rav4 plug-in. 

Boston Consulting Group surveys show that a long-range hybrid appeals to approximately one-third of US car buyers, and it expects a parade of new hybrid models that travel far longer on battery power than most do now. Similar models are making gains around the world. In China, it’s common for plug-in hybrids to travel 60 miles on a charge. 

When US EV sales dipped briefly in 2024, plug-in hybrids maintained their momentum. “It’s increasingly evident every automaker has to have hybrids in their portfolio and will have to have them for longer,” explained Nathan Niese, global lead for EVs and Energy Storage at Boston Consulting Group.

Though Jaguar Land Rover doesn’t provide sales data by powertrain, it says its long-range hybrids have been incredibly popular in recent years. The company’s data show that three out of four of the trips taken in its vehicles can be covered by the brand’s plug-in models, according to spokesman Joe Stauble. 

“We’ve been very clear in our commitment to electrification,” Stauble said, namely net-zero carbon emissions by 2039. “However, for Range Rover, we appreciate our clients aren’t ready to make the EV switch overnight.” 

Herring at Mercedes says we should expect long-range hybrid technology to start popping up in more models in the automaker’s portfolio, in part because they are selling so well. In the third quarter, US consumers bought three times as many Mercedes plug-ins as they did in the same period in the previous year. Roughly half of those buyers had never owned a Mercedes before. 

“You find customers who still aren’t sure about electric and this speaks to them,” Herring said. “I have to say, I didn’t quite get it until I drove one for nine months. … I barely ever touched gas.”

Herring, however, was diligent about plugging the car in; many hybrid drivers, however, are not. Between 11% and 54% of a plug-in hybrid car’s mileage is covered by battery alone, according to BloombergNEF, depending on the kind of car and where it is in the world. The low end of that spectrum is not much of a carbon solution, particularly if the hybrid kept its driver from choosing a fully electric option.

Even Mercedes concedes that plug-in hybrids are “a bridge” to models that ditch the gas engine entirely. “The question of how short or how long that bridge is remains to be seen,” Herring said, “But for some customers, this is the destination.”

Toyota, meanwhile, has long championed hybrid math. (It’s also been lukewarm on fully electric offerings.) Making a large battery remains one of the most carbon-intensive processes in the auto industry. Considering that, the company reckons letting consumers choose just how much battery they want — or ideally need — helps spread the environmental gains of electric driving beyond evangelists. Correspondingly, it was late to the all-electric market and still only has one offering in the space — spreading its battery cells more evenly along its product line.

The plug-in Prius Prime, for example, manages 44 miles of electric driving with a 14 kWh battery; Toyota’s all-electric bZ4X, meanwhile, can travel 252 miles on a charge, but its battery is five times larger. 

Long-range hybrids “are an essential part of our commitment to reducing carbon emissions as much as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Mike Tripp, group vice president of Toyota marketing. “By offering a diverse portfolio of electrified vehicles … we give more customers access to electrification and move closer to a goal of reducing emissions.”

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.