LOGAN — After a week of driving and reviewing Kia Optima PHEV and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (both electric vehicles,) we discovered if you plan your driving carefully, you can avoid buying and burning gasoline.

PHEV stands for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, meaning it's a hybrid like a Prius, but can fully charge its batteries from an outlet. However, while being electric, the Kia Optima PHEV also has a gas option.

Build

The Outlander has an electric motor on each axle and can go off-asphalt, but should stay on some sort of road. The Optima gives up 6 feet of trunk space for its batteries, while the Outlander houses the batteries under the floor. Both offer an inflator instead of a spare tire.

Mileage

The Mitsubishi goes 25 miles all electric, while the Kia offers 29 miles. That’s the equivalent of driving from Logan, through Sardine Canyon, and then a few miles down I-15 without a single puff of exhaust. If you could charge your electric vehicle at work and didn't have a very far commute, you could go weeks without paying for any fuel.

Charging spots

However, people in gas-burning cars often block the electric charging spots. During two weeks with the plug-in vehicles, we charged the Optima once at Utah State University and were never able to charge the Outlander there. And that’s with parking enforcement writing a steady stream of tickets.

Salt Lake City has 28 free electric vehicle charging spots, and there are dozens more in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys. However, they are rendered useless if drivers of gas vehicles park in them.

Electric vehicle sales

Mitsubishi reports Outlander PHEV sales have increased over last year and makes up 19 percent of all Outlander sales. Sales charts for all EV and PHEV vehicles show increases every year. And while some people claim the energy required to charge these vehicles pollutes as much as gasoline, electric vehicle drivers are responding by using their own solar arrays to fill up their batteries.

Electric vehicle advocate Mark D. Larsen said there are 3,750 plug-in vehicles in Utah (from 2011-2018), which makes them .61 percent of the cars on the roads; higher than the national average.

Cost

While you can save money by reducing gas costs, on average, going electric adds about $5,000 to the price of a Kia Optima, and getting the plug-in version adds yet another $5,000, compared to one of their gasoline model vehicles. If you want to calculate a “payoff” number where you make up for the higher sticker price of this brand of electric vehicle, you’d have to factor in how much charging you can do for free.

Since the Outlander PHEV’s electric motors give it all-wheel drive, the $34,595 PHEV compares with the up-line GT 3.0 S-AWC, adding only $2,350 for a floor full of batteries; though I have yet to meet a hybrid or electric vehicle owner who made their purchase based on a monetary payoff.

Opinion on electric vehicles

It’s hard to get an unbiased view of the electric vehicle/plug-in hybrid electric vehicle ownership experience from online forums because owners are typically advocates before they even make their purchase, and critics often criticize from the sidelines, not the driver’s seat.

During our demo week of driving them, the Optima and Outlander PHEVs were seamless and smooth, and would have been completely free of any fuel charges — had the charging spaces not been occupied.

Brian Champagne has reported on cars since 1996. He holds a master's degree in communications from the University of the Pacific and teaches at Utah State University.

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