Get the latest tech news

Here Comes the Flood of Plug-In Hybrids


New US emissions rules mean more plug-in hybrid cars are on the way. The electric vehicle tech is clean—but has a catch.

The US Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule, long in the works, that will require automakers selling in the United States to dramatically boost the number of battery-powered vehicles sold this decade, putting a serious dent in the country’s carbon emissions in the process. Plug-in hybrids also make some automakers less nervous, manufacturing-wise: They’re more expensive to build than pure battery electrics (the whole two-motor thing), but the tech can sometimes be retrofitted into existing, gas-powered cars. This means less work, short-term, an exciting prospect for an industry that has to rejigger both how it builds its cars and how it sources the materials that will make their batteries go in the next few decades, as they move towards electrics.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Wired

Read more on:

Photo of flood

flood

Photo of plug

plug

Photo of hybrids

hybrids

Related news:

News photo

What Happened When India Pulled the Plug on TikTok

News photo

Boeing paper trail goes cold over door plug blowout

News photo

Plug In South LA helps build diverse startups in a traditionally underserved area