Comment by AtlasBarfed

It increasingly looks like legacy auto should have pursued (and still can, there is a LOT of runway for it) PHEV architectures for a 10 year cycle. Well to be honest government should have put a hard deadline of 10 years for PHEVs over 20 years ago (10 years after the Prius/Insight was released) for all consumer platforms or pay a $5000 new car tax.

PHEVs with 50 miles of range would effectively make almost all day-to-day driving electrified, at least in "consumer" transportation, wouldn't require special recharging equipment beyond a 110V outlet, removes range anxiety, would alleviate urban air pollution.

Of course nothing will be done in this administration. But to the point of the article, oil and transportation dependence, even with extensive shale oil production, remains a national security risk that PHEVs and alt energy can mitigate.