My H is thinking about getting a plug in hybrid car. He drives 5 miles to work and another 4 miles at lunch to his exercise location. He doesn’t want a full electric car as he wants the option of gas if he needs it. We have other vehicles that we would use for longer trips so this car would just be driven under 20 miles a day. His present car uses a lot of gas but it has low miles and he would keep it for pulling a trailer and longer trips and for work when he needs a bigger vehicle.
Goal is to be more energy efficient not to save money on gas. His car is a business expense so he will talk to his accountant to see if it makes financial sense.
He is considering looking at the Kia Niro plug in and maybe the Honda Clarity.
Pros and cons?
It’s more car than your H needs, I think, so this probably isn’t very helpful, but we’ve had our plug-in hybrid Volvo for four years and it’s definitely more energy efficient. We love it. Plugs into a household outlet, and absolutely has the kind of range your H is talking about.
Another Volvo plug-in owner here.
We own a TOYOTA Prius Prime and it has a range of just over 25 miles electric. We buy about 4 or 5 gallons every other month or two. So far, we are at just under 8000 miles in 13 months and no complaints by me.
H doesn’t like the blindspots but I’m fine with the car.
It plugs into regular household current in the garage, so no need to rewire. We have photovoltaic so our electric bill remains pretty low, but higher than the $0 before we got the hydrid.
Love how silent electric cars are and how smoothly they run.
If you will retain the other cars for use when doing longer drives, then even a short range (70-90 mile) full electric vehicle should be fine for 20 miles per day, with no maintenance or emissions checks for the gasoline engine in a plug in hybrid. Short range full electric vehicles are probably quite inexpensive used (although you probably want to avoid older Nissan Leafs from hot weather areas, because their air cooled batteries have degradation problems).
I’ll bet you’re in a cold weather state, but I’d save the money and buy a bike with only 5 miles to work and 4 miles to the gym. At least most of the year.
@sushiritto Not anywhere close to a cold weather state. A city that averages 70 degrees most of the year. His exercise is on the beach. He could bike but I don’t see that happening.
Haven’t looked at the Volvo but I’m sure it’s more car than he needs. He doesn’t need luxury or super comfortable seats.
@mom60 I’m envious of that commute. I live in a big bicycling area and would love to join the hordes one day. 
Everybody needs super comfortable seats, IMO. 
And Volvo seats are super comfortable. But the safety is worth at least considering one, IMO, although they are at a higher price point than some other hybrids.
My H got a used Clarity a couple months ago and LOVES it! I guess what makes it different from other hybrids is that you run on electric only for the first 50 (or so) miles after a charge. Then you run mostly on gas, but the range is about 300 miles. He recently retired and figures most of his use will be electric only.
We are in FL and there are very few around. None at the dealerships, but I think you can order one. Evidently they are all going to CA. He was lucky to find a used one.
I think my Toyota’s range is similarly about 600+ miles—25 electric on full charge and then the rest on the 8-10 gallon tank @55mpg.
That’s a very common set up for a plug-in hybrid. Many actually have shorter all electric ranges.
I can easily say it does not make financial sense to purchase another car while keeping the old one. There is no way to make the $ work.
btw: since he plans on keeping the current car, why not use it for trips where he needs gas? If you can charge at home, a fully electric EV would be my rec. 200+ miles of range would easily get him anywhere he needs to go on any day trip.
I am not a fan of plug in hybrids. You have 2 systems that need to be maintained and might go wrong. The car will have to be driven occasionally for much longer than the 20 miles… or the gas in the tank can go stale. Plus, the hassle of regular oil changes etc. will not go away. Is a used Chevy Bolt an option? An older Model S?
I think he should get a fully electric car but it’s not my car. The other car is a truck that’s fully paid for and depreciated with almost 200,000 miles on it. He is a general contractor who isn’t presently building.
His conflicted thoughts are does it make more environmental sense to just keep driving the truck 10,000 miles a year versus the energy cost of a new electric or hybrid car being produced.
We have a Volt. Unfortunately, Chevy no longer makes them. I have driven a Volt for about 7 years now and I cannot understand why everyone doesn’t drive these kinds of vehicles, especially if you mostly drive just locally! You will be pleased.
Folks who have range anxiety aren’t happy with electric only vehicles (my H is one). He was ok with a hybrid tho we know it is two systems to maintain instead of just one. I’m happy anyway and did pay for the 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty when I bought the car because I know “things happen,” especially with expensive electronics.
So far after owning the Prius Prime 1+ year, no regrets.
Using synthetic oil, oil changes are a 1x/year or 12,000 miles proposition. And the OP’s husband will use it every day for 5 miles to work and 4 miles to exercise at lunch. That’s almost nothing.
A full tank on a Prius Prime is 11-ish gallons. Even if the OP’s husband doesn’t ever engage the gas engine, which is highly doubtful, since we all take trips, you buy a product named Stabil for $5, which is a fuel stabilizer and lasts 24 months.
We have a few Toyota’s (a couple hybrids) in our family and they’re all extremely cheap to maintain. Personally, I’d buy a Prius Prime or, if you have lots of money to burn, then a Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid. 
Stabil may not be needed if the plug in hybrid runs the gasoline engine occasionally specifically to burn off fuel that may be getting old.
It’s not hard to sometimes just not plug in the car so you can burn some gas on the Prius Prime. Also longer trips naturally use gas. We haven’t had to add any stabilizer but are careful to use gas with NO ethanol.