I used to think hybrids must be more complex because they're gas + EV. And more complex usually means less reliable.

I just learned very recently that that's not the case — for Toyota, anyway. Their hybrids are actually generally considered more reliable than their traditional gas cars, these days.

They deleted the starter and alternator. And the transmission, an e-CVT (which is nothing like the shitty CVTs that many people are familiar with), is dead simple and more reliable than even a manual transmission.

Also, I find brake pedal very interesting, because it actually feels completely normal and UNinteresting.

My only experience with regenerative breaking before was when I drove someone's Tesla. Letting my foot off the "gas" pedal felt like braking, and the brake pedal was only needed for hard, emergency braking.

In Toyota hybrids, the gas and brake pedals feel absolutely normal and familiar, despite most of the braking actually being regenerative 🤯.

There's probably more cool engineering that I have yet to discover. I just bought my Toyota like 2 weeks ago 🙂

(Note: Many manufacturers make hybrids differently, and there are plenty of shitty ones. Also, plug-in hybrids are pretty different, and generally less reliable.)