We very much enjoy our Ford Fusion plug-in hybrid, and will likely get a RAV4 plug-in next. Although these only have 30-50 mile electric range, the backup is a quality gas hybrid engine that gets 45 mpg both city and highway. It can charge up easily overnight just plugged into a standard socket. And depending on your driving pattern, you may find as we do that 80% of our miles are all electric.
Certainly 100% is better for the environment, but if many more people do an 80/20 solution, that’s better in aggregate. With a plug-in, there is no range anxiety, in fact the gasoline backup range is 600 miles, and fills up like any other car. And with incentives offered, the cost to buy or lease these vehicles is no higher than a standard gas model, and might be lower than a non-plug-in.
Some plug-in hybrids, such as the popular Honda Clarity, don’t use a gasoline hybrid engine as backup, but instead use a smaller gasoline engine to charge the battery, which continues to power the electric motor. These are ok too, but the backup system MPG is more like 30 rather than 45, and there’s a small tank and more limited backup system range. This is fine if most of your miles on an average day will be within the battery range, which for the Clarity is 50 miles.