At a time when many consumers want to save on gas but aren’t ready to buy a fully electric car, hybrid vehicles — which use both gasoline and electric motors to make them go — are having a moment. The Kiplinger Letter forecasts that hybrids will account for 14% of vehicle sales in 2024, up from 9% in 2023.
That growth is taking place despite another round of buzzy product launches last year for fully electric cars, also known as battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Some went well; some were glitchy. Carmakers around the world threw money into electric-vehicle development, even as prospective car shoppers continued to fret about recharging availability, among other concerns. Amid all the hubbub, what Americans actually went out and bought was, increasingly, hybrids.
