Cars are a bad analogy, but we have a 2017 Prius Prime (plug-in) hybrid. It goes 25 miles or more on battery alone, then gets 50 mpg on its gas engine. It charges overnight (in a few hours if not fully discharged). My wife, whose daily round trip is 12 miles, fills her gasoline tank once or twice a year.
The 2024 new Prius Prime has a full body redesign and numerous upgrades, and even better battery-only range.
Want to drive one in California? You can't, there are no demos available at any dealer. There are no 2024 Prius Primes on any car lot. To buy this car, which to my mind is the answer to transitional electric power, you order it unseen, and pay a premium. At Santa Monica Toyota, one of the largest dealers, the price added to the sticker is $5,000.
Dealers cannot or will not explain this oddity. The memorized response to "why?" is, "No cars available to test drive because every car that arrives is already owned."
Toyota was a pioneer in this sort of hybrid--a hefty daily range, with a small gas engine for long trips. At first, the company stuck to its guns, saying this was a better answer at present than all-electric, since the grid system is incomplete. Then last year they began to hedge. Now they push all-electric, although Toyota models are limited compared to other big manufacturers like Ford or the Europeans.
So what happened? Pressure of incentives, tooling and long-range production plans have put the Prime in the back seat, despite high demand.
So the world heads Tesla--or towards the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5, an effective competitor for those suffering from Long Elonitis.
An all-electric car future is OK by me. But hybrid, when mass produced (I don't see it for yachts) is a good solution for the present.