A buddy of mine in the car business says that this is all smoke and mirrors to get people to accept hybrids.
Ten to fifteen years ago hybrids were polarizing. Many of the complaints you hear about EVs - the batteries are expensive, are bad for the environment, the cars have poor resale value, etc. - people were saying about hybrids.
Then the big push began on EVs. They were everything bad about hybrids...squared.
Next thing you know, laws are being passed requiring EVs by a certain date...except that the laws REALLY say EVs OR hybrids.
Compared to EVs, hybrids don’t look so bad.
If they had tried to pass laws ten years ago requiring people to buy hybrids, it wouldn’t have worked. Now it is going to look like a reasonable compromise.
The buses here in Nashua, NH run on natural gas.
It seems logical that any type of delivery vehicle that returns at the end of each shift to a warehouse could be better off using Natural Gas.
Meaning UPS, the US post office jeeps, Amazon vans, etc. Instead of stupid battery operated electric buses.
We have so much NG sitting in the ground all over the USA that we never would need to import petroleum. I also suspect burning methane instead of gasoline or diesel is less polluting.
FYI, I understand that we import heavy sulfur petroleum and then turn around and export gasoline or diesel fuel.
You might have something there. Hybrids are OK in my book. It laughable how small the batteries are in them. They really are gasoline powered cars with an electrical option for short hops. Most don’t even plug in at home.