The Biden administration eases the path ahead for automakers to go electric. Toyota hints of more advanced route planners for plug-in hybrids in the future. And we find the Lexus RX PHEV compelling on some numbers but not others. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
The Lexus RX finally has a plug-in hybrid in the lineup. In a review of the 2024 Lexus RX 450h+, as it’s called, we found that it offers usable electric-only range, AWD even in its electric mode, and a quiet interior, but pricing was one of several reasons why it’s not the compelling package it could be.
A feature called Predictive Efficient Drive in the Toyota Prius Prime PHEV will learn from your daily driving patterns. As of yet there’s no planner to truly get the most out of the electric and hybrid mix over a new journey; but as Toyota recently highlighted with a feature that geofences urban areas in the new C-HR plug-in hybrid, it might soon add something like it.
And the Biden administration has caved to complaints from automakers and softened its tighter fleetwide fuel economy and emissions rules for new vehicles. That’s through the easing of the Petroleum Equivalency Factor, which currently overinflates the impact of an EV, allowing more higher-polluting vehicles to be sold without penalty. As the rules are set to phase in, they might allow an automaker to comply in 2032 with a third of its fleet plug-in hybrids and few EVs, according to a report.
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