Not necessarily. If there are two options:
- PHEV - Let’s say Prius Prime, has a 13.6 kWh battery costing $2000 and a small IC engine costing $2000 plus associated parts around it costing $1000, and an electric drive motor costing $2k, and a transmission costing another $1000. So the main drivetrain components cost a total of $8,000.
- BEV - Let’s say Tesla model 3 RWD LR, has a 74kWh battery costing $11,000 plus an electric drive motor costing $3,000. The main drivetrain components cost a total of $14,000.
You can see that in this scenario, the BEV, with only one electric drive motor, costs more than the PHEV with both an electric drive motor and an IC engine and a transmission. That’s because in order to have reasonable range, the BEV requires a much larger battery. And batteries are still quite expensive. As battery prices drop, this differential in price will drop, and BEV prices will drop commensurately. And when that happens, PHEVs will become less attractive price-wise.