Hybrids just make more sense for work and play in Australia

Australia’s car market has slowed slightly and there’s particular concern in some quarters about the drop in demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

While sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and light commercial vehicles – mostly four-wheel-drive utes and wagons – remain the most popular of buys, BEVs were just 5.9 per cent of total sales in February, compared with 9.6 per cent in February last year.

While there are now dozens of electric vehicle choices in the showrooms, consumer demand fell by 37 per cent in the first two months of 2025, compared with last year.

So, as predicted way back, the shine had to come off the electric car market.

A slowdown in early adopters’ demand, prices, range anxiety, paucity of charging infrastructure and the antics of Tesla’s Elon Musk have all contributed.

Instead, there’s growing demand for hybrid vehicles: cars and utes which use a combination of internal combustion engines and electric motors for shortish, all-electric trips and fuel savings  while allaying concerns about long-distance travel.

Among hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), there’s a sub-niche: plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

These, as well as being able to generate electricity on the road, can be recharged from an outside power source.

Mitsubishi’s PHEV Outlander wagon was an outlier, and quite successful, from 2013. But today, there is a host of PHEVs from the likes of Alfa Romeo to Ferrari  to Volvo (Outlander owners drive in electric mode 81 per cent of the time, Australian research reveals).

In 2025, there’s movement in the ranks of four-wheel-drive utes with the hybrid BYD Shark and GWM Cannon on the market and Ford’s PHEV Ranger due mid-year with a four-model line-up of the popular ute, starting from $71,990.

Ford states that the ute’s plug-in hybrid powertrain supplies this Ranger with 207kW and 697Nm while possibly running at 2.9L/100km.

The cargo tub has room for two European-sized pallets and up to 973kg of payload. Ford reckons that’s 180kg more than any other plug-in hybrid dual-cab currently available.

Ford Australia boss Andrew Birkic says the company can’t wait for customers to get behind the wheel of the hybrid ute.

“The addition of PHEV to the Ranger line-up marks the first time in history that Australia’s best-selling nameplate has been offered with an electrified plug-in hybrid option, with the backing of an extensive nationwide dealer network,” he says.

“Our Aussie engineering and design team have created a plug-in hybrid that allows diesel ute buyers to begin their electrification journey without sacrificing any of the core capability that they need from a truck – whether they use it for work or play.”

The Ranger PHEV uses a turbo-charged 2.3-litre petrol engine, mated  with a 75kW electric motor and  11.8kWh battery, for reportedly the same off-road and towing capabilities as ‘conventional’ Rangers.

A new transmission allows for a range of hybrid and EV modes, the ‘traction’ battery is tucked between chassis rails below the cargo tub, and a mechanical transfer case makes sure both axles can deliver the required power to all four wheels in rough country.

The Ford Ranger PHEV shows a lot of promise on paper and, if it works as well as the Rangers already available, will no doubt find a decent market.

At this stage in the motoring world, PHEVs and HEVs would appear to make more sense in Australia than pure battery electric vehicles for work and long-distance travel.