Let yourself be amazed by a strange thesis that seems absolutely not socially acceptable at the moment: The plug-in hybrid could survive longer than it seems to us at the moment. But it would already have to change soon. There are certain indications of this that are still difficult to see.

What are the signs? The legislature plans to possibly link the subsidy to even longer electrical ranges. There is already at least one Chinese car that exceeds this requirement. It's the Coffee 01 from Wey from the group Great Wall Motors.

The car also has front-wheel drive, which we very much appreciate. If it were smaller, more lightweight and more streamlined, it could form the foundation for our project. An even larger battery would of course not be despised. Where do we want to go? Quite simply to a battery-electric powered vehicle that happens to have an internal combustion engine on board.

No, not a four-cylinder with a turbocharger. Much too big and therefore too weighty. We think that something like this would have to be dealt with an additional 100 kg in weight. We take the torque balance from the Toyota Prius, so no clutch that is prone to wear. The engine should also only be able to bring our vehicle to a little over 100 km/h motorway speed and escape the trucks in the process.

If you don't look closely, you won't even notice the combustion engine in the drive train. That could also - the idea comes from Mazda - be a rotary piston engine. It may not be particularly economical, although it should always run at the same engine speed. No, not a serial hybrid. It runs in purely electrical mode or stops by freewheeling. So you could optimize it on something like the engine speed of the highest torque or the rated speed.

If it is located in the middle between the electric motor and the planetary gear, its drive could be passed through the eccentric shaft. It would be much easier the other way around. It would be even easier with a single cylinder. You don't even believe how little kW (HP) you need for such a motorway speed. Of course, this would have a bit of a resemblance to an emergency run, but that would be wanted. No, neither turbochargers nor special exhaust gas detoxification would be necessary, a mini G-Kat would be enough.

A lot can also be regulated via raw emissions. But imagine you are driving battery-electric with a full small tank. Charging stations lose their horror, because when the navigation gets even better one day, you will find out on the highway that there is a traffic jam. This way you can look calmly for another station. And what's even better, your electric range grows because you can drive much closer to absolute zero.

In particular, drivers of electric cars who bought the car in summer often cannot estimate how much the range decreases in winter temperatures. Don't you think that this is why such a vehicle would have a chance on the market, even if the subsidy one day slowly approaches zero? Enjoyment without regrets, because it is up to you how often and for how long you have to drive in emergency mode.

And don't come up with the weight disadvantage argument. A vehicle with two complete drives at the front and rear will certainly be heavier. And nobody cares about waste. n these circles, one should finally be clear about whether one wants to do the maximum possible for climate protection or indulge in one's completely senseless acceleration orgies, not to mention the particulate matter that is created in the process.

Do you think such a car would meet the next Euro norms? After all, there are limit values for NO_X and CO₂ here. It should be easy to determine what pollutant emissions the small engine has and to limit its mileage according to the number of kilometers the car has. Then you give warnings similar to an almost empty AdBlue tank and at some point it is over until the car has more electric kilometers again.