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My biases: I am green leaning. And even I question whether this is good news:
I'm excited about the 2020 Wrangler PHEV (plug in hybrid electric vehicle). But I'd be more excited if I had solar panels that charged it at no additional cost.
I'm dying to see at what price point FCA offers this at. Even with the *up to* $7,500 US Tax Rebate though, I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Of course "worth it" takes on many meanings. There's the "financial worth it," in the sense that liquid fuel savings (depending on price) eventually makes for some break even point down the time line for the consumer, but how far down?
Then there's the "I'm doing good by global warming," worth it. But am I? A Wrangler user that tends to do more frequent but less lengthy trips could run off of electric far more often than those putting in serious mileage. Such short trip users could then plug it in between trips (and again, for most of us, the margin cost of electric is not $0.) But unless you're buying green electric off the grid, you're electric is also been produced by hydrocarbons....even if--fair point--the utility's power plant is loads more efficient than any individual's power plant.
Then there's batteries and water. The people at FCA have that much more of a challenge to make this work in an off roading vehicle more likely to be subjected to the elements. But one plus in the "is it worth it column," at least to the off roading community, is the potential for smoother torque.
...and by the way, once that ICE engine kicks in, forget about good MPG. I just can't see it. You're lugging around all that additional battery weight. It's bound to effect payload/towing capacity and delivery really poor MPGs when the ICE engine is on. Even if electric were free, I'd like to see what overall MPG estimates are, factoring in use of the electric propulsion for about the first 30 miles off charged batteries.
And to all of those who think "green first," even if the 2020 PHEV proved quite the green vehicle from a CO2 vantage point, remember that much of the global warming tradeoff is putting parts of dead batteries into the ground being the lessor of two evils over putting CO2 into the air.
I found this video intriguing. Sure it's about another make and model PHEV, in another country with different pricing and governmental incentives. But many of the principles that make the PHEV of that video less than appealing may apply to the Wrangler.
I hope that the price point and math that demonstrate typical usage show the 2020 Wrangler PHEV to have a realist and relatively quickly achieved break even point.
I'm excited about the 2020 Wrangler PHEV (plug in hybrid electric vehicle). But I'd be more excited if I had solar panels that charged it at no additional cost.
I'm dying to see at what price point FCA offers this at. Even with the *up to* $7,500 US Tax Rebate though, I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Of course "worth it" takes on many meanings. There's the "financial worth it," in the sense that liquid fuel savings (depending on price) eventually makes for some break even point down the time line for the consumer, but how far down?
Then there's the "I'm doing good by global warming," worth it. But am I? A Wrangler user that tends to do more frequent but less lengthy trips could run off of electric far more often than those putting in serious mileage. Such short trip users could then plug it in between trips (and again, for most of us, the margin cost of electric is not $0.) But unless you're buying green electric off the grid, you're electric is also been produced by hydrocarbons....even if--fair point--the utility's power plant is loads more efficient than any individual's power plant.
Then there's batteries and water. The people at FCA have that much more of a challenge to make this work in an off roading vehicle more likely to be subjected to the elements. But one plus in the "is it worth it column," at least to the off roading community, is the potential for smoother torque.
...and by the way, once that ICE engine kicks in, forget about good MPG. I just can't see it. You're lugging around all that additional battery weight. It's bound to effect payload/towing capacity and delivery really poor MPGs when the ICE engine is on. Even if electric were free, I'd like to see what overall MPG estimates are, factoring in use of the electric propulsion for about the first 30 miles off charged batteries.
And to all of those who think "green first," even if the 2020 PHEV proved quite the green vehicle from a CO2 vantage point, remember that much of the global warming tradeoff is putting parts of dead batteries into the ground being the lessor of two evils over putting CO2 into the air.
I found this video intriguing. Sure it's about another make and model PHEV, in another country with different pricing and governmental incentives. But many of the principles that make the PHEV of that video less than appealing may apply to the Wrangler.
I hope that the price point and math that demonstrate typical usage show the 2020 Wrangler PHEV to have a realist and relatively quickly achieved break even point.
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