https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/hybrid-vs-plug-in-hybrid-what-diff...

https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/hybrid-vs-plug-in-hybrid-what-difference/
https://www.bts.gov/content/gasoline-hybrid-and-electric-vehicle-sales
https://about.bnef.com/blog/tracking-the-revival-of-plug-in-hybrids/

I could dig up many posts where I opined that mild fake hybrids are a downside risk factor for Lynas and not the Holy Grail as ausheds claimed (a claim which EddieB and TheDean parroted endlessly).

Because mild fake hybrids use no more NdFeB than a traditional ICE-powered vehicle, no more REEs, thus no upside on REE demand, any effort by Big Auto to market (or Big Gov to subsidize) mild fake hybrids as real hybrids would be counterproductive and could stunt or delay conversion to EVs (or PHEVs).

In the articles linked, "traditional hybrid" or just "hybrid" are the words used to denote the mild fake hybrid. This did not used to happen. No serious contributor counted them as hybrids, no official or government entity called them hybrids. That's because the mild fake hybrid has no electric drive only launch assist and start-stop idle control so the internal combustion engine, unchanged in size, is turned off at a stop. Then a small ferrite motor helps launch the big pig. That's it. They are not a hybrid by the traditional definition: they have NO hybrid drive capacity. They are a piss-poor stop-gap excuse for not doing anything to move the needle on transpo emissions by offering an affordable EV. Calling a mild fake hybrid any kind of hybrid is an insult and an embarrassment, imho.

ausheds used to claim that mild fake hybrids were meaningful to investors here; utter nonsense he shoved down the throat of this forum whilst he denigrated any and many posters who dissented. He never backed up his claim that mild fake hybrids would create REE demand at any level much less the "Holy Grail" level - he had no magnets, no motors to show us no matter how many times he was asked - just more C&P glossies. But ausheds he went much further, dismissing real EVs (AND WIND TURBINES!) as "stupid" in oh so many clever phrases for the EV "happy-clapping lab rats". Just another static-thinker with an oversized ego and a rude loud presence here.

Bottom Line: US Big Auto is lagging because it cannot produce the EV motors - it's strength was the big internal combustion engine. They cannot produce the NdFeB magnets that are essential for EV motors; so they are trying to pawn off mild fake hybrids to make themselves look better; indicating to me that perhaps that they are too weak to progress and are about to get run over by China's BYD et al.

If you consider history any clue, consider it took Japan about 25 years to go from a post-war regional to a global auto superpower when they advanced automotive manufacturing and improved reliability. When it comes to the next generation of automobiles (EVs), the Chinese have at least a 20-year head start, with advanced deep technologies in mining and smelting and alloying and magnet-making, not to mention the energy to support heavy electrical infrastructure requirements, and supportive universities and national labs. Meanwhile in Australia one guy is sure they are all stupid and should just watch him.

Mild fake hybrids are not hybrids, should not be marketed as hybrids, should not be subsidized as hybrids, should not be counted as hybrids. Their ascension would present a downside risk to the long term ROW REE demand growth curve that Lynas management and investors are hoping to profit from.