The batteries are heavy and the motors provide lots of torque at all speeds.
I was wondering if it was lead-footed driving that was the cause. My wife had a Rav4 Prime (plug in hybrid) and on short trips, which is most of our driving, it was all electric. It was very smooth, but definitely heavy. Lifting your foot off the brake when the stoplight changed usually provided sufficient acceleration. We didn't keep it that long. My wife is a leadfoot, and generally got about half as many miles on tires and brakes as me, on my car when we both drove ICE.