Battery electric vehicles (BEV) have great potential of addressing the sustainability issues of the current, mostly fossil fueled individual mobility sector. Still, one of the major hurdles often cited in the context of electrifying individual mobility is range anxiety: conventional vehicles can be refueled within minutes and there is a dense network of fuel stations. So basically, as long as there's a road, no destination is out of reach. With BEVs however, charging may take hours, autonomy ranges are much shorter and currently, there is no widespread, international (or even interregional) public infrastructure to charge in case of emergency. That's why plugin-hybrids and range-extenders could play an important role as a transitory technology, offering high efficiency at the convenience of a conventional vehicle. This study explores this technological potential mainly in terms of well to wheel emissions, but also usability (range, handling, …). Different configurations, from “plugin-hybrids”, i.e. “chargeable hybrids” to “range-extenders”, i.e. BEVs with an auxiliary power unit (APU) and the corresponding operation strategies, from starting the APU at low battery charge to range-optimized, hybrid propulsion are looked at. The analysis also takes different driving conditions (rural, motorway, …) and chassis-types (from city-car to SUV) into account. The comparison to conventional vehicles and battery electric vehicles finally shows how on one hand, plugin-hybrids consist a step towards sustainability, and depends on the local electricity mixes’ carbon footprint.