The Hybrid Paradox: City versus Highway

Everybody knows that a car uses more fuel per mile in city traffic than on the highway. That's been so since Henry Ford introduced his T Model - although back then there weren't any highways yet to speak of. But the principle was already firmly in place then, as it is now, and as it will be in future. Everybody knows that. Remarkably though, everybody is wrong.

Because... the Hybrid Car enters the stage, and turns it all topsy-turvy! City driving generally uses less gas with a hybrid than with a gasoline-only car because, for the latter type, start-and-stop driving is the most wasteful. Hybrids however capture and reuse that "wasted" energy! People spending most of their drive time on the freeway at high speeds, take longer to cover their hybrid's premium from fuel savings.

As a consequence of the above, hybrids tend to perform best in the start-stop traffic of an urban area. In gridlocked Singapore, congested New York, clogged-up Amsterdam or sloooow Sydney... that's great! But when traveling on fast highways, hybrids will mainly work in gasoline mode as there won't be much regenerative braking to charge the batteries. This is now done by the gasoline engine, additional to driving the wheels. Working on gas = expensive, working on electricity = cheap.

Although it all looks like a paradox, of course it isn't. The hybrid car simply makes use of the economic reality that, in contrast to the gas it uses, its self-generated electricity is (almost) free. And there's more of that free electricity in the city than on the highway.

You may also want to read our page "How do Hybrid Cars save Money?"