More than half of 2025 has passed. Should the debate between pure electric and hybrid vehicles come to an end?
“I drove an electric car during the May Day and National Day holidays. The issue of recharging isn't really a problem. As long as you don't keep driving non - stop and recharge when it's necessary, everything will be fine.”
“Well, since I have a private charging pile at home, I use the 'all - electric mode' for my daily commute. I only switch to the'super hybrid mode' for a couple of fixed days each week to ensure the engine's working condition. When going on a long - distance trip, I basically don't worry about recharging. If there's a charging pile, I'll recharge; if not, I'll use gasoline.”
As an automotive media outlet that focuses on the theme of 'cars', the core keyword in the daily communication of the editorial department of the commune is 'cars'.
The above conversation took place during an editorial meeting a week ago when the author was chatting with Teacher Cui Liwen of the commune. We were each expressing our attitudes towards using all - electric and hybrid cars.
Yes, Teacher Cui drives an all - electric car, the LeDao L60 under NIO. As for the author, some friends who have read previous articles may remember that I drive a Lynk & Co 08.
Photo | A photo of changing the car at the end of June last year. This is to commemorate the gasoline car on the left that served me for more than seven years.
As of mid - 2025, whether a car is new energy or not is no longer a question. However, there are still disputes over some details, such as 'which type of new energy'.
This article selects the first - hand cases of Teacher Cui and the author. From the perspective of car owners, we'll look at the problem in a very subjective way. It's not about pointing out or even summarizing something, just sharing our feelings.
All - Electric Travel Is No Longer Special
Although the scenes described in articles like 'Who Should Take the Blame for Waiting in a Four - Hour Queue to Charge for One Hour?', 'I Was Trapped in the Service Area Waiting for a Charge on New Year's Eve', and 'Did You Win the 'Battle' for the Charging Pile During the National Day Holiday?' are as vivid as memories from a few months ago or last winter. However, if you calculate carefully, it has been nineteen months since the most recent one.
As of the end of May 2025, the cumulative number of charging infrastructures nationwide exceeded 14.4 million, a year - on - year increase of 45.1%. Specifically, in the expressway service system, which is crucial for cross - regional self - driving trips, among the 7,692 expressway service areas (including temporary parking areas with only refueling facilities) in the broad sense across the country, 5,929 have built charging facilities, with a total of about 35,000 charging piles.
Photo | Don't you have the feeling that such chaotic scenes seem to have decreased since last year?
From the perspective of the Yangtze River Delta region, the core of East China, there are at least 8 fast - charging piles of the national power grid in any expressway rest area. Of course, Teacher Cui's car has a'special' ability - battery swapping.
“I feel that when traveling in the Yangtze River Delta, there's no need to even plan for an 'electric car' because there are plenty of charging piles in expressway service areas.”
Moreover, Teacher Cui's car has an additional function - battery swapping: “Now, NIO's battery swapping stations basically cover the expressway service areas in the Yangtze River Delta.”
Photo | Actually, there will also be queues at battery swapping stations, and sometimes you even have to wait for the battery to be charged. I've witnessed this more than once. It shows that nothing can withstand a sudden increase in demand.
According to official data, as of June 22, a week ago, NIO had built more than 8,000 charging and swapping facilities nationwide, among which the number of battery swapping stations reached 3,371. In mid - April this year, Xinmin Evening News reported that NIO had deployed 187 battery swapping stations in Shanghai municipality directly under the Central Government, and the total number of battery swapping stations built in the entire 'Jiangsu - Zhejiang - Shanghai region' was 1,044.
In an era where online communication is mainly characterized by extreme and emotional expressions, in the way quite a number of netizens describe things, the NIO brand falls into the category of 'when will it go under'. Judging from the current market situation, NIO's situation is indeed not optimistic. However, aside from these aspects that you don't need to worry about when driving, its feature of supporting both fast charging and battery swapping obviously has considerable advantages.
Of course, in an era when 800 - volt charging has become popular and 900 - volt and even megawatt charging have emerged, if someone holds a different view and believes that the value of battery swapping is getting lower and lower, they can certainly stick to their opinion.
After all, after five years of rapid development, in addition to the 35,000 charging piles deployed on the domestic expressway system, there are also more than 13.7 million public and private charging piles off the expressways (according to data from the Chinese government website on April 28, 2025) in the domestic new - energy vehicle recharging system.
Photo | According to our current car - using habits/experiences and the growth rate of recharging facilities, the problem of waiting for several hours to recharge during peak periods has basically disappeared. In severe cases, the waiting time for recharging is no more than one hour.
With such a large - scale system, even if we consider a 60% availability rate, in more than 95% of the time throughout the year, except in a very small number of popular areas, the vacancy rate of charging piles is obviously very high.
Even during the less than 20 - day peak periods of long holidays and annual leave, when driving an all - electric car, if you pay appropriate attention to traffic congestion and the remaining battery level, there won't be the kind of complete chaos as there was a few years ago.
More importantly, after the experiences of recklessly setting off in 2021 and getting stranded halfway, and trying to take shortcuts in 2022 - 2023 only to find that there were many people as 'clever' as oneself, car owners have become more adaptable to the characteristics of all - electric cars.
Photo | Just randomly set a cross - provincial destination. You can see that the current functions are very complete, and in the future, they will be even more perfect and the data will be more accurate.
In particular, various navigation apps have kept up with the situation in a timely manner. Currently, both Gaode and Baidu offer special options for new - energy vehicles, and after several years of optimization, they truly meet the needs of car owners.
The invisible but real development in the fields of domestic Internet of Things and automotive big - data travel is also constantly eliminating the blind spots on your journey.
The Value Brought by the Engine
“When going on a long - distance trip, just drive it like a gasoline car.” During the conversation that day, when I was explaining why I chose a hybrid model a year ago, this sentence can be the final summary, which also reflects my mentality in daily car - using -
Since my home and my workplace are at the two ends of the north - south axis of Shanghai, my daily commute is more than 70 kilometers. If I take a little detour to drop my wife off at work, the daily driving distance will exceed 80 kilometers. Therefore, how to reduce the daily commuting cost of driving is a key issue.
I did consider buying a'small electric car' at that time, but it would also mean an additional car insurance premium and parking fees at both the workplace and the residential area.
Photo | Although there are plenty of parking spaces in the residential area where I live, the plan to have two cars is basically set for when my child becomes an adult. However, one should never say never, as there are always more changes than plans in life.
After weighing various requirements and pros and cons, I chose a hybrid model with a medium - sized battery that suits my family situation. Yesterday, after a year of using the new car, I completed the first annual maintenance, and the final cost of using the car for the whole year was calculated.
From the beginning of July last year (2024) to yesterday (June 29, 2025), the total electricity consumption was slightly less than 4,800 kWh, and the total electricity cost was less than 1,600 yuan.
Of course, the above is the cost of using a personal charging pile and mainly choosing off - peak electricity hours. However, there is one inaccuracy here - the stepped electricity price from July last year to June this year was not fully considered. But even if it is taken into account, the increase in cost is very small.
During this period, I refueled four times with No. 92 gasoline, and the total cost was also calculated as 1,600 yuan. The total vehicle energy consumption cost was 3,200 yuan. The first maintenance I just completed was free as it was included in the car purchase package. Normally, the cost of maintenance varies depending on the parts to be replaced and is about 1,000 yuan.
Of course, I almost forgot to mention the total driving distance - it was slightly less than 26,000 kilometers.
Photo | In terms of the frequency of car use and average driving distance, I should be among the top in the domestic working - class group.
When I used to drive a gasoline car (a two - door A - class sedan), the monthly fuel cost was between 1,000 and 1,200 yuan. I had to have the car maintained every 7,500 kilometers, and I could just go to a nearby repair shop. The single - time maintenance cost was about 450 yuan.
Basically, the current car - using cost is only a fraction of what it used to be, and even less. Of course, when I changed from an A - class car to a mid - sized SUV, the increase in interior space is obvious. All in all, the current evaluation shows that it fully meets my initial expectations.
At this point, some friends may can't help but ask: Teacher Cui was talking about the problem of long - distance driving of electric cars earlier, but what are you doing here evaluating the cost of using a hybrid car? And this is what I want to talk about next - I'm very careful about the commuting cost, but when going on a long - distance trip... please refer to the first sentence of this section.
Photo | The fact that recharging is no longer a big problem is indeed a huge improvement. But what if this problem doesn't exist at all?
So far, I've refueled four and a half times. Two of those times were during the week of the family trip last Mid - Autumn Festival. During that trip, we started from Shanghai and entered northern Zhejiang, driving around almost the entire perimeter of Zhejiang Province, covering a distance of more than 1,300 kilometers. We also stopped at many scenic spots to rest, where we naturally set up portable air - conditioners and barbecue grills.
In short, from my own perspective, my mentality is: be careful on weekdays, but when on vacation, why worry so much? Otherwise, the vacation would be in vain.
Yes, with the help of navigation and the brand's supporting mobile app, in many cases, finding a charging pile or swapping a battery doesn't even reach the level of 'planning' or 'worrying'. But I still want to say - when your car can increase its range by 600 kilometers in two minutes and the maximum waiting time for 'charging' is only 10 minutes even when there's a queue, 'recharging' will never be a 'problem'.
Photo | A photo I took during a trip last Spring Festival. Sometimes, it's often the good swimmers who drown.
In short, the reason I chose a hybrid car is that I want to enjoy the advantages of both gasoline cars and electric cars. And since the 'equal price for gasoline and electric cars' policy was implemented at the beginning of last year, it means I don't have to pay any extra cost for this.
“You've said a lot, but I'm not convinced.”
A few days ago, after I talked with several friends about most of the views and contents in this article, more than one person said so. But the key is that I'm not trying to 'convince' anyone.
In an era when cars are rapidly