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Which Is Right For You? An EV Or a Plug In Hybrid? Kia EV6 & Sportage PHEV Compared

If you want to cut your gas consumption you may be thinking about a plug in hybrid like the Sportage Plug In from Kia, or you may be thinking of taking things to the next level with a full like the Kia 6. If you're debating in between EV and PHEV here are the fundamentals you must know. How does range, ground clearance, legroom, cargo room, efficiency, dealing with and pricing compare? All that ans more here.

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30 responses to “Which Is Right For You? An EV Or a Plug In Hybrid? Kia EV6 & Sportage PHEV Compared”

  1. THE_JARMEL Avatar
    THE_JARMEL

    Happy Saturday everyone ✌️ have a good one….

    Reply
  2. Mike Farrington Avatar
    Mike Farrington

    Didn’t I see this video last week?
    EDIT: Oh, it’s a repost from the other channel. Nothing wrong with that of course, I was just confused for a moment.

    Reply
    1. N C Avatar
      N C

      Alex…. Please post the full versions, on this channel first…. I refuse to watch it a second time, just for an additional 6 minutes of footage…. that you don’t break out separately, so it can be easily found…

      Reply
  3. shinybaldy Avatar
    shinybaldy

    Can’t wait for you to get your hands on the 2023 Prius Prime

    Reply
  4. Vancity23 Avatar
    Vancity23

    Alex, hearing that many PHEV are rarely charged by there owners, the range is less than stated, and the gas engine has more pollution that stated…

    Reply
    1. David Williams Avatar
      David Williams

      The claim that many owners don’t charge them is from a study that included fleet vehicles where the companies bought them did so for the tax rebates of having ‘green’ vehicles. Personal owners generally understand that charging the battery is required for the benefit.

      The pollution claims are kind of silly. Sure if you don’t plug it in then it won’t run in EV mode as much and then it’s basically the same thing as a hybrid anyway, but has a couple hundred pounds of extra weight due to the larger battery.

      Mine the range is more than stated in the city and less than stated on the highway. It’s the same with the people who claim MPG ratings on gas vehicles aren’t achievable but people get or beat them all the time. If you replicate the testing conditions you’ll get the same range, if you drive it like you stole it, you won’t.

      Reply
    2. Vancity23 Avatar
      Vancity23

      @David Williams There have been studies about the pollution and low range, carrying two sets of systems seems counterintuitive

      Reply
    3. David Williams Avatar
      David Williams

      @Vancity23 except it is still using far less fuel than a gas or hybrid equivalent. It’s not counterintuitive at all. It runs in EV mode for any short range trip mitigating the gas and then runs as a hybrid when the battery is low. If you think it’s reasonable for hybrids to exist the is simply that hybrid that uses less gas overall.

      Reply
    4. N C Avatar
      N C

      There have been numerous studies on how often PHEVs are charged? many PHEVs were designed to get a tax credit and to increase the performance, and have a very short EV range…. Those types of PHEVs are almost never charged…… while PHEVs with an EV range of 50 miles or more tend to be charged on a regular basis…. Sportage PHEV, splits the difference….

      plus parallel PHEVs create much more pollution, while they’re running…. since they are constantly starting and stopping…. an engine has to reach operating temperature to run efficiently and for a pollution control device to operate, such as a catalytic converter…. studies have proven this is the case and it’s just common sense….

      a very small range extender ie Series PHEV…. is a much more effective compromise…. since it’s designed to operate for a much more continuous period of time, such as for long trips or towing…. Which is what I’m hoping the Ram REV will offer….

      Reply
  5. cloudsplitter24 Avatar
    cloudsplitter24

    Hi Alex, I really enjoy your videos and most assuredly value your reviews and opinions. I had a question related to range comparisons….

    Are the range numbers listed using 100% battery usage? If I understand what most manufacturers typically recommend, the user would not go below 20% of rated capacity nor charge to above 80% of rated capacity, if the if the owner wanted to preserve your battery would be about 60% of that listed. Assuming a linear range profile with capacity (not 100% realistic I’m sure), wouldn’t it make sense to list both the manufacturer spec range and what the user could likely expect in day to day operation?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. David Williams Avatar
      David Williams

      For a plugin hybrid it will switch to hybrid mode somewhere in the 15 to 20% range so it can never hit 0 unless you run out of gas. The engineers will slightly overprovision the battery so that when it says 100% and stops charging it will be closer to 96% of the actual capacity which is how they can offer things like 8 year battery warranties.

      For an EV, yes you’d generally only charge it when you get down to 40-50% but they usually have the same provisioning at the top end so 100% isn’t technically the limit of the full battery capacity, but yes you’d want to avoid going in to low charge states as much as possible and if you were going to park it for a few weeks you’d want to leave it in the 50-80 range not at full or near dead.

      Reply
    2. Sandor Fejer Avatar
      Sandor Fejer

      Kia in case of PHEVs usually states the usable battery capacity, not the actual one because Kia PHEVs maintain the HEV functionality even when the EV-only miles are used up. They will continue to function properly as opposed to other PHEVs where they become worse than the normal HEVs. Kia is great from tech point of view.

      Reply
  6. James Avatar
    James

    Considering there’s not nearly enough rare earth minerals on the planet for people to drive EVs the responsible and pragmatic thing to do would be to buy a hybrid or PHEV. Especially with these 1st gen EVs that will become quickly depreciated when solid state batteries come by end of this decade.

    Reply
    1. N C Avatar
      N C

      rare earth minerals? Like what? BEVs are now produced with none of them…. such as with LFP batteries….

      1st gen BEVs???? BEVs are over 100 years old…. new vehicles having new technology , which depreciates old models…. Is nothing new

      So good luck with your horse and doggy….

      Reply
  7. D T Avatar
    D T

    😂😂it doesn’t need to be efficient because it has a lot more energy on board.

    Reply
    1. N C Avatar
      N C

      it doesn’t need to be efficient…. because it has a lot more Pollution on board. 😂😂

      Reply
    2. EV Buyers Guide Avatar
      EV Buyers Guide

      It’s a factor, just ask a pick up truck with a 100 gallon gas tank 😂

      Reply
  8. David Williams Avatar
    David Williams

    The 2023 Outlander PHEV has a heat pump and does fast charging via a CHAdeMo port. You should get one of those to try your commute and test the EV only range with only one person in the vehicle.

    Reply
  9. Peter Fessier Avatar
    Peter Fessier

    I owned a 2014 kia soul and that car made me a fan of Kias. However if I was buying a plug in hybrid or EV I’d be looking at one which qualifies for the tax credit. In this price category that would be the Ford Escape PHEV if you are willing to go without the AWD. It would be a lot cheaper than the Sportage and a lot more efficient when driving hybrid. For the EV I’d be considering the ID 4. I like the EV 6 a little more, but if it comes down to money, the ID 4 is a better deal if you qualify for the rebate. Of course with dealerships lack of inventory, and markups, things might not be so straight forward. The Ford Mach E and the TESLA model Y also qualify and are in the same price range for an EV.

    Reply
    1. Noah_E Avatar
      Noah_E

      The Mach-E has much more style and better materials than the Tesla. A neighbor has an ID.4 and it has better fit and finish than Tesla, but is worse in every other way. The cheapness of the interior is on par with 90s GM. You get what you pay for with the VW and their charging network (Electrify America) is far behind Tesla.

      Reply
  10. Sylvan dB Avatar
    Sylvan dB

    I appreciate your pragmatic discussion of the tradeoffs between these choices. Thanks!

    Reply
  11. Tim Gurr Avatar
    Tim Gurr

    A little confused with some of the jargon being used. I think the Sportage is a PHEV but some of the comparison charts indicate HEV?? Typically, PHEV means one needs to plug-in to get full utilization of the electrical drive portion. My understanding is that with HEV’s the on-board computer controls the charging/discharging cycle of the battery. What’s the cost comparison between HEV and PHEV. Thanks for the video. Overall, a good comparison between the two. Personally, I prefer an ‘SUV’ over a “sedan”. Battery technology really needs to improve before there will be a larger portion of the population going full EV. Cost of full EV’s are just too high and the impact on mining and processing battery materials never seems to be considered when looking at the overall impact on the earth’s environment. Thanks again.

    Reply
    1. N C Avatar
      N C

      There is a Sportage Hybrid…. But it was not included in the comparison…..

      Reply
  12. abghere Avatar
    abghere

    I typically keep my new car till its end of life. My concern is that both the turbo and hybrid technology are very expensive to repair! EV are equally if not more expensive to repair.

    Reply
    1. Noah_E Avatar
      Noah_E

      Turbo and hybrid tech had the kinks worked out three decades ago. I wouldn’t use either as a reason to not buy a vehicle. I have a 2005 F350 Powerstroke with 253k miles. I’ve replaced the tube that funnels air to the turbo twice, but the turbo itself is original.

      Reply
  13. N C Avatar
    N C

    Alex…. Please post the full versions, on this channel first…. I refuse to watch it a second time, just for a few minutes of additional footage…. that Is not broken out separately, so it can be easily found…

    Reply
  14. Evan Burch Avatar
    Evan Burch

    Seeing the EV6 in person it looks like an oversized hatchback, almost like an optical illusion.

    Reply
  15. William Elkington Avatar
    William Elkington

    Another excellent review! Thanks so much.

    Reply
  16. Scy Avatar
    Scy

    is this the same video as the one on Alex On Autos?

    Reply
  17. Noah_E Avatar
    Noah_E

    Headroom, styling, $$ all make the PHEV Sportage a no-brainer. But Hyundai/Kia need to get their dealers to stop the price gouging “market adjustments” that are driving a lot of people to Tesla. Ford is bad, too. Both my local dealers have $20k tacked on top of the MSRP of their Lightnings, making the cheapest one $101,544 USD.

    Reply

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