EV "Kool-Aid"?

I read this article and I was flustered to say the least.

Firstly, the article does not say what make/model/year the author drives. This could explain some stuff. But, let's start with tangible beefs. Firstly he refers to his car as an "electric hybrid car". I suspect he means PHEV because he talks about chargers that are full... but also he says that the electric motor never kicks in at highway speeds. As stated, this is almost definitely flat out incorrect. But, again, without details of the car, I can't really confirm anything. I'm unaware of any Hybrid or PHEV which does not engage the electric motor at ANY speed. 

More than likely the correct form of the complaint is that the car never turns off the ICE engine at high speeds. What is "high speed" will depend on... you guessed it, make and model. My Kia Niro PHEV for instance has absolutely no problem running on all electric well up to 120 km/h and even past that. I know that there is a speed at which it cannot power the drivetrain on it's own. I can't remember exactly what the number is. But, even when it does kick in the ICE engine, it isn't that it turns the electric motor off.

These cars are essentially hybrids with some amount of additional all battery range. They also, typically have a more powerful engine, as hybrids weren't really designed to EVER run on JUST the electric motor except at much lower speeds. And all PHEVs that I'm aware of, simply drive the same as their hybrid counterparts when they run out of that additional range or perform under conditions which exceed what the electric motor wasn't meant for. And that behavior is to have BOTH engines running, typically with the electric motor running in a well defined range to maximize fuel efficiency.

Now, the gas engine has a lot more headroom for performance than the electric motor on these cars. So, what it sounds like is, this guy was driving like a F***ing maniac. WELL above posted highway speeds and WELL above what the electric engine on his car was built to handle. Yet again, without make/model details, I could certainly be wrong.

But EVEN so, it sounds like he has made some BRUTAL mistakes in his research. A PHEV may be less efficient than a typical hybrid under certain circumstances. But, unless you're doing something ABSURDLY wrong with your car it is NOT less efficient than a pure ICE vehicle. Even at most stupid high speeds. And the reason here is pretty simple... a hybrid and PHEV are basically the same thing. Only the PHEV has more battery weight to carry. So, once the battery is dead, it is just dead weight. That being said, the all electric range should MORE than compensate for that. So, it only becomes an issue when you fail to charge your PHEV.

Which does lend some credence to his secondary complaint, which is that charging infrastructure sucks. But, once again, we hit an interesting snag in his story. If he is in a PHEV, then his vehicle does NOT support fast charging. So, I'm not sure how it matters how busy the Tesla stalls are. They are not only fast chargers which his car won't support, but they are also not even the SAME F***ING CONNECTOR AT ALL. 

And then finally his deranged rant seems to center around Tesla reliability and random faults and defect numbers. Completely ignoring that Tesla is NOT the only EV manufacturer and not providing any stats on defect rates of non-EVs to provide any sort of comparison. 

In fact, after writing this article, I feel relatively convinced that the author of the linked article does not actually own a vehicle with any sort of electrified drive train. There are simply far too many issues in his story which the owner of any sort of hybrid would be unlikely to make (like being unable to realize that a Tesla super charger wouldn't charge any PHEV on the market, being unaware that the EV motor still runs even at highway speeds, the fact that Tesla's don't need an hour and a half to charge [and all look alike anyway so unlikely he could even tell half were the same], etc...)