Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

isn't a hybrid basically like charging your car from a petrol generator? Its just the same fossil fuel going in? I heard those Lexus ones had a hilariously low mpg.

There are 3 types of hybrid:

1. Mild Hybrids: Charged by braking regen and reduce fuel consumption and emissions within city type driving. Fuel is saved by not a great deal.
   
2. Full Hybrids: Charged by braking regen or the combustion engine acting as a generator. Can run fully on either combustion or electric or a combination of the two. Fuel is saved, and IMHO the generator mode is wildly inefficient as you're combining the inefficiencies of both the combustion and the battery, but it is possible to give yourself the illusion you're doing well here... but I'm unconvinced it's real.
   
3. Plug-in Hybrids: Charged by braking regen, combustion engine as generator, but more typically by plugging in to the grid. Can run fully on either combustion or electric or a combination of the two. This for me is the sweet spot, plugging in makes a world of difference to round trips < 10 miles where I run full electric only.
   
   

The first was the first to market and have set most people's understanding of a hybrid... but the PHEV is the one now appearing in far larger numbers and that is typically running pure electric or a very fuel efficient ratio within cities (low speeds where batteries shine).

Most parking discounts, congestion discounts, relate not just to the emissions, but to the distance the vehicle is able to do on pure electric as that influences whether people are likely to achieve the low emissions.