Now your low HP engine is lugging around a giant empty battery. :-) There may be trade offs to be had, but it seems to me that it's too easy to think "electric

Now your low HP engine is lugging around a giant empty battery. :-) There may be trade offs to be had, but it seems to me that it's too easy to think "electric good" and not examine the tradeoffs carefully. I think that's why the original Prius did not have a plug-in option: it made no sense to people who analyzed the trade-offs. It was introduced simply because there was a market for "electric good". I think the right trade-off is either all electric, or small-battery hybrid. It also might make sense to have a five-mile battery for people who make a lot of sub-five mile trips, but still regularly go further.