The Ford Escape Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PHEV) is the Best Car of 2024
Headlines at the end of 2023 focused on car companies pulling back on their investments in electric vehicles, despite 2023 being the best year for electric vehicle sales ever. If we thought that Americans would immediately abandon gasoline vehicles and start clamoring for EVs after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, we were kidding ourselves. American consumers are slow to adopt new technologies, and people aren’t used to imagining how they will charge their cars instead of stopping by a gas station as they have been doing their whole lives.
I have been impressed by Ford’s Escape Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Despite reading reviews that didn’t give it high marks, my research suggests that the Escape PHEV could be the best car currently available for the average American. It has plenty of space for the SUV-loving American, offers great value, gets the best mpg-e of all the PHEVs on the market, and is fun to drive.
The Escape PHEV offers the best of both worlds. It has a battery with a 37-mile range, which covers the majority of daily travel by Americans. For longer trips, the Escape PHEV comes with a gasoline engine to alleviate any range anxiety. You can still visit your familiar gas station.
While there are other PHEVs on the market, and the Escape PHEV has been around since 2020, new rules from the IRS regarding which vehicles qualify for tax credits leave the Escape as the last small SUV that qualifies for the tax credit. Having driven the Escape PHEV, I am impressed. I believe it will be the EV entry vehicle of choice in 2024. That’s why I believe 2024 will be the year of the Escape PHEV.
Cost
When looking at a new car, cost is a big factor for most buyers. A 2024 Escape PHEV has a starting price of $40,500, about $6,000 more than the standard Ford Escape. However, the Escape PHEV qualifies for a $3,750 tax credit in 2024, which can be applied to the upfront cost by the dealership. The dealership will have to enroll with the government to do this, so it might not be available everywhere, but many dealerships should sign up to help sell more vehicles. Assuming dealerships do sign up, that drops the upfront cost to purchase the Escape PHEV down to $36,750, just $2,250 more than the gasoline version of the Escape. But if consumers do the math, most should pony up that extra money for the PHEV because it won’t take long to pay it off.
The average American drives 1,200 miles a month, or roughly 14,000 miles a year, and the average daily commute is around 40 miles — meaning that the Escape’s PHEV battery covers nearly every American’s daily driving. The PHEV Escape has been around since 2020 and drivers are reporting that they drive 80 percent of the time on the PHEV battery alone, using the gasoline engine for longer trips. The average cost of gasoline over the last 5 years in the United States has been $3 a gallon and the average cost of electricity per kWh has been 15 cents. Using these numbers, we can compare driving the standard Escape to the PHEV. At $3 a gallon and driving 14,000 miles a year, a person will spend $1,400 a year in gasoline while driving the standard version of the Escape. Now, assuming a person drives 80% of those 14,000 miles using the PHEV’s electric engine, the yearly cost is dropped to $765 a year — meaning that the break-even point for the Escape PHEV is three and a half years. The time the average American has kept the same car has been increasing over the past decade. This is because cars are better made and costs are rising. The average American now keeps their car for a little over 8 years. So assuming someone keeps their Escape PHEV for 8 years, the total savings, assuming today’s gasoline and electricity costs, will be about $2,900. Additionally, the resale value of the Escape PHEV is higher, giving an even greater incentive for the Escape PHEV.
Charging the Escape PHEV
While range anxiety should not be a concern with the Escape PHEV’s gasoline engine ready to kick in should you run the battery down, people are still concerned about when and how they charge their battery. There is the option to install a level 2 charger at home. These generally cost around $1,500, but the government is offering a 30 percent tax credit that helps defray the cost. Some utilities are also offering additional rebates to reduce the cost of installing an EV charger at home. A level 2 charger will fully charge the Escape’s 14.4 kWh battery in about two and a half hours.
While a level 2 charger is the most convenient option, it does add cost and some people might instead choose to use the level 1 charger that comes with the Escape PHEV. These chargers are much slower, taking on average ten to twelve hours to fully charge the battery, but for people who want to be cost-conscious, this still works for most people. People who are using the Escape PHEV for daily commutes can plug the car into the wall when getting home from work and the car would be fully charged in the morning using a standard wall charger.
Reviews of the Escape PHEV and comparison to competitors
You might be asking why I am only advocating the merits of the Escape PHEV and not the other small electric PHEVs currently available. It’s because the Escape PHEV is the most economical of the currently available options in 2024. The car that the Escape PHEV is most often compared to is the RAV4 PHEV, which has a starting MSRP of $43,000 and is not eligible for a tax credit because it is not manufactured in the United States. This makes the Escape PHEV $6,250 cheaper in upfront costs than the RAV4 PHEV. The RAV4 does have a 42-mile range with its battery, 5 miles further than the Escape PHEV, but the added range does not make the RAV4 price competitive. Unlike the Escape PHEV, it does not save the consumer money over the eight-year ownership period.
Of the PHEVs on the market, the Escape PHEV’s 105 mpg-e combined is the best in the PHEV class. Besting the RAV4’s 94 mpg-e, Crosstrek’s 90 mpg-e, and Tucson’s 80 mpg-e.
The reviews of the Escape PHEV in several of the leading sources give middling assessments, but these reviews give low marks on the internal design, acceleration, and the fact that it only comes in front-wheel drive. The Escape PHEV gets high marks on value, internal space, and technology. Frankly, I don’t understand why critics pan this car. I’ve driven it and when using the electric battery, which drivers report using 80% of the time, it is a truly great driving experience. Being the only PHEV that gets the tax credit, it is the cheapest option. The other two critiques I see of the Escape PHEV are that it doesn’t have a nice interior because it’s too plasticky, which I find to be a strange thing to zero in on. I like the interior and enjoy the large screen that offers CarPlay, something competitors are dropping. The last mark against the Escape is that it only comes in front-wheel drive. I drove the Escape PHEV in the winter and it performed amazingly well for not having all-wheel drive. This is because the battery sits on the car’s undercarriage, making it bottom-heavy and better distributing the car’s weight compared to other front-wheel-drive-only vehicles. Being front-wheel drive also helps the Escape PHEV achieve its 37-mile all-battery range and competitive price.
Final Thoughts
I wrote this after being impressed with the Escape PHEV and being surprised to see most reviews panning the car. Then, when I saw that the Escape PHEV is the only small SUV that will get the government’s tax credit, I did some simple math and was surprised at how economical it is. I realized that no other electric vehicle out there can match what it offers to consumers on price and peace of mind. Of any car currently available, it is the perfect EV entry model for the American consumer. There are many vehicles coming in the next few years that might displace the Escape PHEV from being the best EV available. I am looking forward to Chevy’s new fully electric Equinox, but as of today, I think it’s the best vehicle available to Americans.
Further Reading
I have written several related Medium articles on taxes and investing that might interest you:
On the topic of investing generally, I wrote a post called Rich People Don’t Keep Money in a Bank Account, You Shouldn’t Either.
Another is called Taxes on Savings are Unfair, Here’s How to Fix it.
You Probably Can’t Get the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction, So Why Should Anyone Else?
Is a 30-year Mortgage Worth it?
Lastly, here is an important one called Did you Receive a Smaller Tax Return? Next Year Will be Worse.
