Christian von Koenigsegg, CEO and owner of Koenigsegg Automotive AB, has caused quite some ripples through the industry when he said the future of EVs belonged to hybrids – and diesel ones, at that.
Speaking with CarBuzz, he argued that most current and would-be EV owners realize how limited this type of transports is, especially when it comes to long trips to remote places without high-power electric outlets. This technological hurdle is so fundamental that there are no guarantees of automotive engineers overcoming it anytime soon. Hybrids, on the other hand, are far more versatile and still cleaner than traditional ICE cars.
He seemingly didn’t specify what exactly makes diesel hybrids superior to their gas counterparts. Automakers had experimented with this powertrain type a fair bit, but dropped it in the end. Mercedes-Benz offered it for the GLE for a while, and Jaguar reportedly considered something similar for its I-Pace lineup.
The main issues plaguing diesel hybrids are mechanical complexity (far more so than gas PHEVs), maintenance costs (cheap for specialized machinery, expensive for public road vehicles), and suboptimal operating conditions. The latter refers to the fact that the diesels tend to be the most effective when heated up to their “best” temperature, and then staying as close as possible to that temperature. In a hybrid powertrain, the engine is only used from time to time, so it hardly ever gets the opportunity to run under its “best” conditions.
Last but not least, the Dieselgate scandal led to many automotive companies ditching this type of powertrain for good just to stay on the safe side. As appealing as it may be in some respects, taking risks in a world obsessed with reducing emissions can be too much to ask.
One of Koenigsegg’s latest hybrid supercars is the Gemera coupe (see video). The company has no diesel powertrains in its portfolio that we’d be aware of.
