They’re at it again. As Toyota execs talk trash about electric powertrains, subsidiary Lexus has launched a second ad campaign (via Green Car Reports) that makes fun of EVs, touting pure hybrids as superior. 

In the latest five-minute video (perhaps an outtake from the new Dumb and Dumber movie), two groups of jokers set out on a road trip to Vegas, one troupe in a Lexus hybrid, and the other in a BMW i3. The hapless electronauts have to stop four times to recharge, sweltering in the desert sun along the way (shades of the New York Times’ “lost in the snow” nightmare), while the savvy Lexus buyers arrive on time for their party, cool and smug.

Left unasked:

• Why would anyone attempt a long road trip in a car that has an EPA-rated range of 81 miles? Or did the BMW dealer not explain to these fine fellows how EVs work? He or she certainly seems to have neglected to tell them about BMW’s 360 Electric program, which offers loaner gas vehicles to i3 owners, for those times when they need to make long road trips.
• Why didn’t our pals opt for an i3 with the range-extending engine, which would have made the trip with only a couple of quick stops to gas up? (In fact, eagle-eyed blogger Tom Moloughney noticed that the i3 in the video does indeed have the REx option, but the gas door was Photoshopped out in some, but not all, shots.)

• Who came up with the idea that hybrids and EVs are competing technologies? EVs aren’t for everyone, and neither are Lexi. We suspect that some households happily own one of each.

MORE: Misleading Lexus ad trashes plug-in vehicles

Source: Green Car Reports