(1) the issue here is the enormous cost of making a stand alone all electric vehicle. a new ICE model costs 2-4 Billion (with a B) dollars to develop. and all electric is more even.
(2) normally with say a Civic or CRV, or Pilot; that cost is amortized over 1 to 1.5 million vehicles. ICE models have full changes every 3-5 years with development times 3-4 years. if you look at luxury brands all these numbers scale differently, but the logic is the same.
(3) adding a hybrid variant might add a few hundred million to the development cost of that model cycle....and can use existing platforms.
(4) an electric vehicle might only sell 100,000-300,00 over it's longer lifetime. but with the same development cost. so you have to charge much more, and it's still a significant loser.
this is why you are not going to see platform changes in Tesla models for a loooong time. plenty of software changes though. it won't pencil to recover the costs. selling direct for Tesla does help with this......as long as they have a pop culture advantage (they are cool
). if that ever is lost then it's free fall time (reality will hit that market cap very hard).
(5) the additional cost of the hybrid is recovered and might even be profitable. and the marketplace will buy many more since it's more workable, the hybrid premium likely $1500-$3000 for volume models, and not limited in range. and it won't bankrupt the company. it's safe and does not rely on unpredictable legislative relief or risky retained values at end of leases.
(6) certain markets like Hybrids and it solves CAFE issue and state carbon credit requirements. plug in hybrids can be used as all electric commuter cars.
moral of the story; for the REAL WORLD, not Orange County, Hybrids are where we are mostly for the next 10 years or so until some sort of technology breakthrough happens or the world ends.
i realize common sense is just not that common.
