The disadvantages of a hybrid car are – well, a hybrid car is not a pure electric car so you don’t get completely emissions-free driving. You can drive on electric only for a limited amount of time, but for the most part, the electric motor is working in conjunction with the internal combustion engine to help lower emissions and improve MPG. But you are still burning fuel, albeit less than in a normal car.
Another disadvantage, for some people, is how it feels when you drive one. Hybrid cars recover kinetic energy when you brake, but in some hybrid cars, this can feel as though it’s slowing down a lot quicker than you expect, and it can take a little while to get used to. Also, brake pedal feel isn’t great.
Some people also don’t like the feeling you get when you press the accelerator hard in a hybrid car. Acceleration is not quite as instant as in a conventionally powered car (or even an electric car) and the engine can get noisy as you get up to speed.
A particular disadvantage for a plug-in hybrid car – sometimes called a PHEV – is that… well, you have to plug them in. These cars have almost unbelievably high average fuel economy figures but to achieve these figures you need to make sure the batteries are charged so the electric motor can help the engine out. You can drive them on petrol or diesel alone, but you won’t get anywhere near the published fuel economy figures if you do so regularly.