How to run your plug-in hybrid car as cheaply as possible
Provided you’ve got enough charge in the battery, you can run the car in pure-electric mode. Make sure that you do that when you’re around town, when the electric motor will be at its most efficient and the petrol engine will be at its least efficient. Then you can fall back on petrol power out on the motorway, where you will get the best MPG figure.
It really can add up to decent savings if you do this to maximise the efficiency of both electric and petrol power. Otherwise, many PHEVs default to simply using electric power first, then switch on the petrol engine when you ask for a cheeky squirt of full power or when the battery charge runs low.
Keep your tax bill down
For retail buyers, the tax savings on PHEVs are pretty minimal. Most will be subject to £115 first-year VED tax, then £200 each year thereafter.
You may also have to pay the Expensive Car Supplement if your car costs more than £40,000 after options, which adds an additional tax of £440 per year from year two to six of ownership.
Worth avoiding if you’re keen to keep running costs down – and you can still have long-range PHEVs for that price, such as the MG HS PHEV, which has a claimed electric-only range of 75 miles for less than £40,000.
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