I have actually been considering changing my regular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid for the PHEV but need to do some more research on whether it's worth it. I'll probably hang fire until I was going to change it then consider a PHEV as to change now, purely for reasons of saving money on fuel, doesn't make financial sense.

I'd be interested to know what kind of mpg (although I know it's a convoluted figure between petrol and electric) PHEV owners actually get. I get between 45 and 50 out of my RAV if I drive it sensibly but I can't fathom Toyota's claim that the PHEV RAV4 returns 282 mpg.

That last figure is when, on the 'official' test they expend as much of the PHEV's 'EV' battery on the 'run' and thus barely use the IC engine, giving a very high mpg figure.

In my view, whilst on paper PHEVs sound good, as regards financial costs (or 'savings') and the environmental factors, they are more of a jack of all trades and master of none - an EV would beat them if you do urban driving and have easy access to decent fast chargers, but are beaten by standard hybrids and possibly the latest diesels (given PHEVs are almost always petrol hybrids) for mpg and possibly even emissions if your journeys are much longer, e.g. often on motorways for well over 40 miles each way and less chance to charge the EV battery.

They are, however, handy for those who mainly do shorter trips in more urban areas with a decent source of chargers (or can easily do so at home) but occasionally need the IC engine for longer trips, and don't want the hassle of having to hire a car (especially when unexpected urgent trips) or (for EVs) don't have the time /opportunity to charge it several times per long journey.

The problem is that unless your existing ICE car is very near the end of its economic life and you were going to change it anyway, ditching it for relative peanuts for a very expensive PHEV won't save you money for many years, if ever over the lifetime of that car, by which time every new car may be EVs and your previously shiny new EV costing well over £30k is now practically worthless.

It's the same argument to never replace a gas fired boiler with a new one unless it is economically worth doing so - either because it keeps (expensively) going wrong out of warranty (especially if parts are hard to come by and/or are increasingly expensive) or that the difference in efficiency is huge (I'm talking well over 30% in real terms) and its a cheapish, like-for-like replacement job.

I only changed my old boiler because parts were hard to come by (and thus expensive) and plumbers needed special training to work on it, and most refused. With my ICE car, I'm keeping mine going as it's still economic to do so and seemingly structurally sound, with the occasional TLC.

The environmental impact from mined material to grave of EVs and PHEVs compared to ICE is still very much up for debate as to which is the worse if you take into account keeping an existing ICE car going rather than just buying one new. Especially if green taxes and tarrifs (which severely distort the calculation) were removed to make the compairson a fair one.

It also very much depends on the personal circumstances (including driving pattern and location) of the potenital buyer, including what country they live in (mix of energy generation methods used).