PHEV (plug-in hybrid)

PHEV stands for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. It is a hybrid with both a combustion engine and an electric motor and a charging connection, so the traction battery can be charged from a socket or charging point. The battery is considerably larger than on a full hybrid and offers, depending on the model, typically several tens of kilometres of WLTP range purely electrically.

The actual consumption of a PHEV depends heavily on charging behaviour. A driver who almost always charges and mainly does short trips can drive electrically for a large part of the year and reaches a low average consumption. Someone who charges rarely and drives a lot of motorway carries a heavy battery along and reaches consumption that approaches an ordinary petrol car. The WLTP statement weighs electric and non-electric driving with the utility factor, an assumption about charging behaviour; see that term for the effect on the stated figure.

On this site "PHEV" is a label for the drivetrain on the spec sheet, separate from price or rating. For the dependence on charging behaviour we refer to utility factor and real-world consumption; for the broader classification to hybrid types.