Hybrid all-wheel drive: e-AWD or true AWD?

On a hybrid SUV, "all-wheel drive" covers three mechanisms that have little in common. An electric motor on the rear axle, an on-demand system with a propshaft, or permanent all-wheel drive. The label tells you nothing. Four lines of the technical sheet tell you almost everything.

One word in the brochure, three mechanisms underneath

The thesis fits in one sentence: hybridisation has removed the propshaft from part of the "all-wheel drive" SUV market, and a Belgian buyer has no way of knowing it from the name of the trim. AWD-i at Toyota, AWD at Kia, 4x4 at Dacia, Symmetrical AWD at Subaru: four brands, four words, and behind them architectures that do not behave the same way, do not tow the same weight and do not cost the same in tax.

First family, e-AWD. No shaft links front and rear: a dedicated electric motor drives the rear axle when the control unit decides so. This is the system on the Toyota RAV4 AWD-i and the new Dacia Hybrid-G 150 4x4.

Second family, on-demand mechanical all-wheel drive. The shaft is still there, and a controlled coupling decides how much torque goes to the rear. This is Kia's choice on the Sportage HEV AWD.

Third family, permanent all-wheel drive. All four wheels pull continuously, with a variable centre differential. On the Belgian market, the clearest example is the Subaru Forester e-Boxer, which fits it as standard on every trim.

Sources: Toyota technical sheet for the RAV4 hybrid (November 2018, in French) for the rear motor and towing, our article on whether AWD is worth it in Belgium for the RAV4's CO2, Autotijd for the Sportage, Subaru Belgium price list (in French) valid since 1 December 2025, Valeo via The EV Report (17 June 2026) for Dacia. Checked on 1 October 2026.

How does e-AWD work without a propshaft?

A second electric motor, mounted on the rear axle, pushes the rear wheels when the system detects a need for traction. There is no mechanical link with the combustion engine, which stays connected to the front wheels only.

The figure that matters: on the 5th generation RAV4 hybrid, Toyota's sheet gives 88 kW and 202 Nm for the front electric motor, 40 kW and 121 Nm for the rear one. The rear is therefore a helper, not a second drivetrain of equal strength. Toyota said so as early as the launch of the RAV4 hybrid in 2016: the rear motor works independently and removes the need for a central propshaft. On the 6th generation, on order in Europe since the spring, system output goes from 185 DIN hp in front-wheel drive to 194 hp with AWD, according to Toyota Europe's press release of 7 April 2026. Nine more horsepower on paper, for a car that gains a whole motor.

Dacia takes the idea further. Its 48 V Valeo rear axle produces 31 hp at peak but has two gears: the short one delivers up to 1,800 Nm at the wheel to pull away on a slippery slope, the long one keeps the axle active up to 140 km/h. Fiches Auto (in French) sums the architecture up in two absences: no propshaft, no centre differential. Energy comes from a 0.84 kWh battery, which the front engine's starter-generator can recharge on the move.

In practice, that gives a light and compact all-wheel drive, whose pulling power at the rear still depends on a small motor and a small battery.

The Sportage keeps its propshaft, the Forester never disengages

Kia made the opposite choice to Toyota. The Sportage HEV AWD keeps a mechanical propshaft to the rear axle, as Automobile Propre points out (in French) in its test, and a controlled coupling shares out the torque according to grip. The force reaching the rear wheels comes from the same powertrain as the force at the front.

The Forester takes this logic all the way. Subaru specifies permanent symmetrical all-wheel drive with a variable centre differential: all four wheels pull at all times, without waiting for one of them to slip. The 12.3 kW electric motor assists the petrol engine through the same gearbox: it changes nothing in the split between the axles.

That choice has a price, and it is printed on the Belgian price list: 183 g of CO2 and 8.1 L/100 km WLTP for an SUV sold from 39,995 €.

Is e-AWD a true 4x4?

No, and this is the most serious objection to our thesis: mechanical all-wheel drive would be the only "real" one, e-AWD a disguised hill-start aid. The figures partly contradict it.

Take towing, the use where all-wheel drive really pays for itself in Belgium. The 5th generation RAV4 hybrid with e-AWD tows 1,650 kg braked, more than double the 800 kg of the front-wheel drive version. The Sportage HEV with its propshaft stays at 1,510 kg in both versions: mechanical all-wheel drive does not add a single kilo of capacity, according to Autotijd's weight data. The "electric" system wins, on this precise criterion.

The nuance comes in two parts. First, an approved towable mass depends on cooling, chassis and the carmaker's own choices as much as on the drivetrain: the low figure of the RAV4 2WD says more about the limits of its hybrid front axle than about the merits of e-AWD. Second, no carmaker publishes how long an electric rear motor can work continuously, in a muddy rut or on a boat ramp. We found that figure neither at Toyota nor at Dacia. Mechanical all-wheel drive, for its part, keeps pulling as long as the engine runs.

In the off-road sense, with a transfer case and low range, none of these hybrid SUVs is a 4x4.

On Belgian snow, the tyre matters more than the architecture

On a snowy road near Bastogne or Malmedy, all three architectures do the job. None brakes better, none corners better: the tyre decides, as we showed in our article on whether AWD is really useful in Belgium.

How much does all-wheel drive cost in tax, by region?

It depends on your address. The Sportage HEV lets you measure the extra cost cleanly, since only the drivetrain changes: 15 g more CO2 and 70 kg more maximum authorised mass (2,285 kg against 2,215 kg). Those two figures weigh very differently in Namur, Uccle and Ghent.

Our calculations on the scales in force from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. Wallonia: base amount for the 121 to 155 kW bracket published by SPW Finances (in French), 2,579.10 €, multiplied by CO2 divided by 136, by maximum mass divided by 1,838 and by 0.8. Flanders: BIV (the Flemish registration tax) formula detailed by Moniteur Automobile (in French), technology coefficient 1.245.

One caveat on the Walloon calculation: it assumes the power shown in box P.2 falls within the 121 to 155 kW bracket. If it exceeds it, the base amount doubles, and so does the gap between the two versions. The SPW Finances simulator settles it in two minutes once you have the certificate in hand.

In practice, that gives three profiles. A Brussels household pays not a single euro of regional tax for all-wheel drive. A Walloon household pays for it mainly through mass and CO2. A Flemish household pays for it through CO2, raised to the sixth power. The three systems are detailed in our article on SUV registration and road tax.

Four lines of the technical sheet before you pay for the option

The name of the drivetrain is useless. Before signing, note on the technical sheet of the exact version:

• whether there is a propshaft or an electric rear motor, and its power in kW when there is one;
• the braked towable mass in box O.1, version by version, wheels included;
• the WLTP CO2 of the AWD version against the front-wheel drive version, which sets your extra cost in Flanders and Wallonia;
• the list price gap between the two versions, on the dated Belgian price list.

To avoid: paying for mechanical all-wheel drive and 15 g of extra CO2 for strictly urban use in Antwerp or Liège. To keep: the RAV4's e-AWD if you tow a caravan, the Forester's permanent all-wheel drive if you live above 400 metres and accept its 183 g. For towing itself, our guide to the B licence and caravans sets the limits, and our comparison tool lines up towable mass and CO2 model by model.