“GM is currently assessing potential future investment,” GM spokesperson George Svigos said in a statement, adding: “No final decision has been made. GM is committed to an all-EV future globally. On that pathway, we continue to study consumer preferences and powertrain options, to ensure we best respond to customer demand and comply with an uncertain, complex and increasingly stringent regulatory landscape for 2027 and beyond.”
Anyone remember in the 2000s when GM had hybrid versions of full-size body-on-frame SUVs and trucks - such as the Escalade and Silverado - that were barely any more fuel efficient than their pure ICE counterparts? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
EPA or real world? Based on EPA, it looks like the Tahoe hybrid would save $600 a year over the regular Tahoe. RAV4 hybrid vs RAV4 is around $500.
2013 Tahoe hybrid was 20/23 city/highway. The gas equivalent 15/21.
Better? Yes.
The issue was the starting price. The hybrid was $53,620 - the ICE $40,405.
$13,000 buys a lot of gas.
Even assuming all-city, you’re buying ~5,000 gallons of gas to go 100k miles with the hybrid. ~6,666 in the ICE.
1,600 gallons of gas would cost ~$5200 at today’s national average price. At ATHs it’s still only an $8,000 fuel difference over 100k miles.
You’d had to have to run the hybrid - napkin math here, for a quarter million miles to break even. That’s assuming maintenance, repairs, and insurance costs are equal or lesser for the hybrid - which is unlikely.
Yeah, GM can get a little ambitious with hybrid pricing. Curious what dealers actually sold them for. (Also, the ELR for $75k was a joke.) But my point was just that it wasn’t an insignificant difference in fuel economy. Had they gone hybrid only, they probably could have sold enough volume to price it competitively.
Hybrid transmissions are amazing things because the gears are always meshed. Hybrids use regenerative braking like EVs. You definitely have a maintenance edge with hybrids, through 12k buys a lot of brake pads too.