How the all-new Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV has changed the plug-in hybrid game, again

If you’ve been paying attention on the road, while listening to the news, you’ll have noticed the automotive industry is in the midst of an exciting electric revolution.

Electric vehicles, which include all-electric EVs (or BEVs, which stands for ‘Battery Electric Vehicles’), hybrids and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), are clearly the way of the future, with more models hitting showrooms and Australian roads than ever before.

PHEVs, which combine a petrol-powered internal-combustion engine and a battery-powered electric motor that’s charged by plugging into an external power source, like a home or public EV charger, may seem like a relatively new technology, but in truth they’ve been around for well over 50 years.

It’s believed General Motors birthed the first ever PHEV, the XP-883 concept car, all the way back in 1969. The two-door hatchback was fitted with a a two-cylinder engine and a DC electric motor powered by six 12-volt batteries placed between the rear wheels.

UC Davis Professor Andrew Frank, considered to be the “father of the modern plug-in hybrid” coined the term “plug-in hybrid” in the early 1990s, after removing large engines from US cars and replacing them with an electric motor that worked in tandem with a smaller petrol-powered ICE, an achievement that saw him contracted by General Motors in the late 1990s to convert the EV 1 electric car to a PHEV.

The first PHEV to go into series production was the F3DM in 2008, a plug-in hybrid from Chinese automotive manufacturer BYD (“Build Your Dreams”) that was initially only sold to corporate and government customers, eventually becoming available to the general public in 2010.

In the US, General Motors began selling the Chevrolet Volt PHEV in 2010, with the Toyota Prius, a groundbreaking plug-in hybrid at the time, reaching the US, Japanese and European markets in 2012.

Whereas the Prius is a compact sedan, in Australia, we love a full-bodied SUV. In fact, SUVs accounted for 53.1 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia in 2022, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared to 2021, making it by far our most popular car segment.

The first plug-in hybrid to arrive for the hungry SUV market was the groundbreaking and hugely popular Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV in 2013.

How popular? By December 2018 it was christened the world's all-time best selling plug-in hybrid; by January 2022 it had sold a massive 300,000 units worldwide. Clearly, Mitsubishi had scratched an itch for the car-buying public.

In 2013, the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV came with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, coupled with an electric powertrain featuring two 60kW electric motors.

Those were powered by a 12kWh lithium-ion battery pack that delivered 52km of all-electric driving range.

Mitsubishi has clearly been a pioneer in the field of plug-in SUVs for years now and continues to push boundaries in terms of what a plug-in hybrid can do, and what it can offer to discerning drivers.

Over the last decade, the Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV has improved by (electric) leaps and bounds, starting with a powerful 20kW lithium-ion battery pack that delivers a hefty, class-leading 84km^ of all-electric driving range - 54 per cent more electric range than the outgoing model.

The Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV’s twin electric motors are augmented by a 2.4-litre direct-injection petrol engine using a 56-litre petrol tank, a sizeable 11 litres more than the outgoing model, giving the car a combined ICE/electric driving range of hundreds of kilometres.

The engine itself provides beefy outputs of 185kW and 450Nm, a substantial improvement on the 50kW/205Nm offered by the ICE Outlander's 2.5-litre engine.

Impressive drivetrain facts aside, the overwhelming popularity of SUVs has a lot to do with them being the car of choice for families country-wide, which means space and comfort are of considerable importance.

Although the base model Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV SUV has five seats (prices starting from $55,590, plus on-road costs), the Exceed ($67,490, plus on-road costs) and Exceed Tourer ($69,990, plus on-road costs) trim levels offer seven seats over three rows, meaning there are size options to suit larger families.

Drivers carting their families about will also be happy knowing the Outlander comes with a raft of the latest safety features, including rear autonomous emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alert and eight airbags as standard across all grades.

If you’re someone who likes their SUV to be able to do traditional SUV-type things, the Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV has you covered there, too.

If a bit of light off-roading is your bag, the Outlander comes with Super-All Wheel Control for off-road adventures, as well as seven drive modes (including, of course, EV mode for when you want to get around in zero tailpipe emission silence).

Combine all that with the fact the Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV is simple to charge and can self-charge its battery pack using regenerative braking, and what you’re left with is a game-changing Plug-in Hybrid EV that’s easy on both your wallet and the environment, blazing an impressive path into the future.

^Based on sample vehicle tested in accordance with ADR 81/02. Actual results will vary depending on traffic conditions, vehicle condition and driving style. Lithium-ion cells degrade over time, and any decrease in battery capacity will reduce electric range.