- Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have the most problems of any category of new vehicles, reports J.D. Power in the 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study.
- That includes more problems than their battery electric vehicle (BEV) counterparts.
- Gasoline and standard hybrid vehicles have fewer problems than PHEVs and BEVs.
In theory, a plug-in hybrid is the ultimate bridge to a mostly-electric future. A customer gets a car they can put gas in anytime, but it's also capable of driving some usually short distance entirely on electric power, and of being recharged as conveniently as any EV.
In practice, however, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) can also represent the worst of both worlds. Owners could be experiencing that at their repair shops, according to a new J.D. Power study.
The consumer research firm's 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study now ranks PHEVs below electric vehicles for the first time ever in terms of problems per 100 vehicles, or PP100—the firm's benchmark for how many issues a car will have in the first 90 days of ownership.
A lower score reflects higher vehicle quality. The study was fielded from June 2024 through May 2025.
"For the first time, PHEVs, on average, have more problems than their battery electric vehicle (BEV) counterparts," the study's authors said. That equates to scores of 237 PP100 for PHEVs vs. 212 PP100 for EVs. And here's some good news for EV fans: those cars are trending better because one consistent outlier in initial quality, Tesla, seems to be cleaning up its act. "The improvement in BEVs is driven by a 62 PP100 improvement for Tesla," the study said.
Both gasoline cars and normal hybrids rank better than EVs and PHEVs, the study said, at 184 PP100 and 196 PP100, respectively.
"As you can imagine, Tesla carries the lion's share of the EV market, so when they improve (as they did by 62 PP100 this year), they take the BEV average with it," said Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, in an email to InsideEVs. "Also, when comparing PHEVs to BEV or ICE models, they are getting impacted with issues from both the combustion engine (shifting, hesitation, etc.) as well as the electric engines (range, charging issues, etc.)"
In other words, Hanley said, PHEVs are getting hit twice, whereas EVs and internal-combustion cars only see issues in one or the other.
This makes sense if you understand how PHEVs work mechanically. All PHEVs sold in America feature a conventional gasoline-powered engine mated to a battery pack—generally much smaller in size than an EV battery pack, too.
While conventional hybrids work the same way, a PHEV gets a larger battery than those cars, and throws in the added complication of charging as well. It's a complex system that doesn't always work in concert as it should. They also require owners to actually plug them in to be most effective, and unfortunately, there's no direct evidence from U.S. automakers that consumers actually do that.
Hanley declined to say which makes or models of PHEVs are more problematic than others, but as is often the case, brands like Lexus, Hyundai and Kia rank toward the top of its quality lists, and all of them offer PHEV options.
"Within PHEVs, there are models that have a strong performance as well as those that are problematic," Hanley said." The scores for PHEVs range from 206 PP100 all the way up to 362 PP100. This is no different than BEVs, where the range is 157 PP100 to 371 PP100."
Generally, Hanley said that when automakers offer many different powertrains, the PHEVs and EVs are problematic than their purely gas vehicles. "I would not say that one [brand] has consistently more problems on the PHEV models than their BEV models and vice versa."
The number of EVs for sale in the U.S. market far outnumbers the number of PHEVs for sale. But that class of vehicle has grown considerably in recent years, and today, PHEV options can be had from Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Audi, Dodge, Kia, Lincoln and even Ferrari.
But there's some good news in the latest J.D. Power study. The number of problems cited by owners in the first 90 days of ownership has improved slightly since last year. And most complaints center around software and infotainment systems rather than mechanical issues.
"Owners are having more touchscreen-related problems due to the inclusion of non-audio-related features like climate controls, garage door openers and even glove box releases," the firm said in a news release. "By retaining dedicated physical controls for some of these interactions, automakers can alleviate pain points and simplify the overall customer experience.”
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
