By recapturing energy wasted during braking and coasting, hybrid-electric vehicles, or HEVs, are often touted as the powertrains of the future. Indeed, they often top the fuel efficiency charts. Yet, in recent months, those claims have come under attack, especially in the US, the technology's largest market. Reports from the field suggest hybrids often deliver far less range per litre of petrol than the claimed figures. And now comes a new study suggesting that if you take in all the energy involved in the entire lifecycle of a vehicle, from dust to rust, if you will, hybrids may not save any energy at all.
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