Self Charging Hybrid

What is a self-charging hybrid?

What types of car are there?

To get to grips with what a self-charging hybrid is, we first need to consider the different types of car.

There are basically only four types of car on sale today. We describe them below. In actual fact, there are technically more than four types – including exotic hydrogen powered cars – but we focus on the four main types here.

A bullet point in green text means it’s good for the environment. A bullet point in red text means it’s bad for the environment.

Obviously the more green text the better, if we are to save the planet.

Type 1

100% ELECTRIC car that has a LARGE battery which CAN BE PLUGGED IN to an electrical socket

• Has one or more electric motors
• Has a large battery
• Doesn’t have a petrol or diesel tank
• The large battery powers the motor(s)
• If the battery is flat, the car will not work at all
• The large battery is mainly recharged by plugging the car into an electrical socket
• The large battery is also topped up when you lift your foot off the accelerator or press the brake pedal
• Car does not emit CO₂
• The car does not pollute the air
• The car can go 100 to 300+ miles (depending on the model) without being plugged in

Summary: Type 1 cars are 100% electric and don’t pollute the environment, e.g. the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Tesla Model 3

Type 2

PETROL or DIESEL car that also has a MEDIUM size battery which CAN BE PLUGGED IN to an electrical socket

• Has a petrol or diesel engine
• Also has an electric motor
• Has a medium size battery
• Does have a petrol or diesel tank
• Petrol or diesel in the tank powers the engine
• The car will only go about 30 miles (exact range depends on the model) on battery power alone
• The medium size battery powers the motor
• If the battery is flat, the car will only work by burning petrol or diesel
• Fuel tank is refilled by visiting a service station and putting more petrol or diesel in
• The medium size battery is mainly recharged by plugging the car into an electrical socket
• The medium size battery is also topped up when you lift your foot off the accelerator or press the brake pedal
• Car does emit CO₂ when running on the petrol / diesel engine
• The car does pollute the air when running on the petrol / diesel engine
• The car can travel about 300-400 miles (exact range depends on the model) powered by its petrol or diesel engine only

Summary: Type 2 cars are mainly traditional petrol / diesel cars, with a medium size battery, and do pollute the environment for trips longer than about 30 miles

Type 3

PETROL or DIESEL car that also has a VERY SMALL battery which CANNOT BE PLUGGED IN to an electrical socket

• Has a petrol or diesel engine
• Also has an electric motor
• Has a very small battery
• Does have a petrol or diesel tank
• Petrol or diesel in the tank powers the engine
• The car can only go short distances at low speeds on battery power alone
• The battery powers the motor
• If the battery is flat, the car will only work by burning petrol or diesel
• Fuel tank is refilled by visiting a service station and putting more petrol or diesel in
• The battery is charged mainly by burning petrol or diesel in the engine
• The battery is also partly charged when you lift your foot off the accelerator or press the brake pedal
• Car does emit CO₂ when running on the petrol / diesel engine
• The car does pollute the air when running on the petrol / diesel engine
• The car can travel about 400-550 miles (exact range depends on the model) powered by its petrol or diesel engine only

Summary: Type 3 cars are very much traditional petrol / diesel cars, containing a very small battery, and pollute the environment practically the whole time (unless driven slowly in a city)

Type 4

PETROL or DIESEL car

• Has a petrol or diesel engine
• Does have a petrol or diesel tank
• The petrol or diesel in the tank powers the engine
• Petrol or diesel is the only fuel source that makes the car go
• The fuel tank is refilled by visiting a service station and putting more petrol or diesel in
• The car does emit CO₂
• Car does pollute the air
• The car can go 250-500 miles (depending on the model) powered by its petrol or diesel engine

Summary: Type 4 cars are 100% petrol / diesel cars and pollute the environment whenever you drive them

What type of car is a self-charging hybrid?

Now that we’ve discovered there are four types of car, what category do self-charging hybrid cars fall into?

On the Lexus UK website, explaining why you should choose a hybrid, they say:

“Unlike electric cars or plug-in hybrids, you’ll never have to connect a Lexus Hybrid to a power socket – they’re self-charging and always ready to go.”

The Lexus Hybrid is clearly not a Type 1 or a Type 2 car, as it is unlike “electric cars or plug-in hybrids” and therefore cannot be plugged in.

The website goes on to say:

“Our hybrid systems self-charge the batteries of the electric motor.”

This means Lexus self-charging hybrids do have a battery. That means they cannot be Type 4 cars.

The only category left is Type 3 cars. A self-charging hybrid must therefore be a Type 3 car.

In 2019, Kia started adopting the self-charging slogan for its Type 3 cars as well. Read the marketing text on their UK website for the Niro model.

Following on from our summary of Type 3 cars above:

A self-charging hybrid = a traditional petrol or diesel car, containing a very small battery, that pollutes the environment practically the whole time (unless driven at low speeds, e.g. in urban traffic)

Where do self-charging hybrids come on the environmental spectrum?

Sometimes it’s best to look at a graphic to get a handle on complicated stuff.

To this end, we have created a simple “environmental spectrum” for cars.

The further left you go on the spectrum, the better the cars are for the environment.

The further right on the spectrum, the worse the cars are for the environment.

Type 2 cars are hard to position precisely on the spectrum. If you only ever drive a Type 2 car fewer than 30 miles before recharging the battery, then they are eco-friendly and behave like a Type 1 car. However, if you drive a Type 2 car more than 30 miles without charging, then they behave like a traditional, polluting Type 4 car.

Here you can see how environmentally friendly the four types of car are:

Now you know what a self-charging hybrid is, would you want to buy one?

The Toyota Motor Corporation – together with their marketing agency – came up with the concept of the “self-charging hybrid” because they thought it would make you more likely to buy their cars.

There’s nothing wrong with advertising. It’s been around for centuries. But, in civilised countries, advertising is not allowed by law to mislead consumers.

So, when you first saw an ad for a self-charging hybrid car, what did you think it was?

• An electric car?
• A petrol or diesel car?
• A mixture of the two: a part petrol / diesel, part electric car?

Now you know for sure a self-charging hybrid is indeed part electric and part petrol / diesel.

But, more importantly, you also now know a self-charging hybrid is very similar to a traditional, polluting petrol / diesel car, and its electric part – its battery – is very small and gives it few green credentials in most driving situations.

Conclusion

A Swedish school girl by the name of Greta Thunberg has forced us all to wake up to the fact we are destroying the natural environment and need to act fast to save it.

A large part of the problem is all the petrol and diesel we burn inside the engines of vehicles all around the world.

If everyone continues to buy Type 4 cars (petrol / diesel engines), it’s business as usual, and we will all be speeding up the planet’s demise.

Based on the analysis above, if we buy Type 3 cars (self-charging hybrids), it’s almost business as usual, and the average driver will be polluting the environment for most of the time.

If we buy Type 2 cars (plug-in hybrids), we will be helping the environment on short trips, but still locking in large amounts of petrol / diesel burning for years to come on longer trips.

Only if we buy Type 1 cars (100% electric) are we guaranteed to be fossil-fuel free for 100% of the time while driving.

Final point: Don’t charge your electric car with electricity generated by a fossil-fuel based power station! That’s letting pollution slip into your EV through the back door. Instead, sign up to one of the many tariffs now available whereby the electricity supplied to your home is guaranteed to come from a renewable source, such as wind turbines, solar panels, hydro electric power plants, tidal turbines, etc.