this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026
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Technology Connections video on hybrids opened my eyes to what they actually are.
I used to think they were a crappy 1/4-step toward EVs, that their main feature was regenerative braking, and that all their gas savings vanished in highway driving.
All of that is wrong.
What they are is a different tuning of internal combustion engine that gets much better gas mileage but has terrible acceleration. Hybrids augment that acceleration intelligently with an electric motor so it’s not so noticeable, removing the big complaint you’d otherwise have with one of those engines in your car. And the gas savings are actually most dramatic in highway driving.
I used to think hybrids must be more complex because they're gas + EV. And more complex usually means less reliable.
I just learned very recently that that's not the case — for Toyota, anyway. Their hybrids are actually generally considered more reliable than their traditional gas cars, these days.
They deleted the starter and alternator. And the transmission, an e-CVT (which is nothing like the shitty CVTs that many people are familiar with), is dead simple and more reliable than even a manual transmission.
Also, I find brake pedal very interesting, because it actually feels completely normal and UNinteresting.
My only experience with regenerative breaking before was when I drove someone's Tesla. Letting my foot off the "gas" pedal felt like braking, and the brake pedal was only needed for hard, emergency braking.
In Toyota hybrids, the gas and brake pedals feel absolutely normal and familiar, despite most of the braking actually being regenerative 🤯.
There's probably more cool engineering that I have yet to discover. I just bought my Toyota like 2 weeks ago 🙂
(Note: Many manufacturers make hybrids differently, and there are plenty of shitty ones. Also, plug-in hybrids are pretty different, and generally less reliable.)
When I bought my car I looked into the lowest lifetime cost of ownership vehicles because I was sick of my previous car breaking all the time. Priuses won by a lot between longevity, low repair needs, and fuel efficiency. Unfortunately that means they had high resale value so I went with something I could comfortably buy cash, so I went with something else small and reliable.
These days I'm more inclined towards full electric, but if I needed gas I'd prioritize hybrids
The thing you’re describing is a setting in our Bolt EV: in “one pedal driving” mode you just lift your foot off the gas and the car begins braking. You get maximum regenerative braking this way because the car is never allow to just lose everything to air resistance. Or you can turn this off and the brakes behave like any other car.
I only drive in OPD mode now. It’s so simple and easy to get used to. We still have a gas car too and I will switch back and forth without issue.