That’s kinda the compromise of the PHEV. It’s the best of both worlds…sorta. Yeah, lugging dead weight around compounds ICE fuel usage over the life of the car, but most people do all of their driving within a few miles of home, so even if your “E” part of the PHEV is lugging around a dead gas engine for these trips it’s still far better than running ICE for all these shorter runs. Earlier PHEV had awful battery life, 10-15 miles, but the newer ones are doing much better with ~20 miles or so. That’s way more reasonable. We’ve gone weeks without filling our car with gas, so FWIW over the life of the vehicle I think that makes up for extra battery weight when running gas.
I absolutely agree that PHEV weight, or even regular EV weight, is a serious concern. Disregarding efficiency issues the power output of some EVs is crazy, the mass and torque could be dangerous and potentially deadly.
If one can manage the infrastructure issues with EV charging, and the high price to buy in to a decent one, yeah, pure EV is the way to go.