The electric battery is for town driving. That’s where it makes sense and the speed penalty isn’t a drawback.
You can switch to gas and accelerate to freeway speed out on the open highway.
With a hybrid you get the best of both worlds in a car.
"Accelerate" is is probably the wrong word to use for a 1.4 liter engine, ripping its guts out as it tries to move the weight of all those batteries up to highway speed. Lumbering up to freeway speed might be a closer fit. It would probably take everything that both the gas engine and electric motor combined can do to get it on a highway without getting run over. Good luck if your 35 miles of electricity is already used up.
Sadly, there isn't much 'best' in any of these cars.
Hybrids are 20-25K more $$$ than comparable gas vehicles, far heavier, breakdown more often and few buyers ever recoup the initial cost excess. Most estimates put savings from a hybrid at a barely over 2K - after 10 years - if that isn't eaten up from the much higher system maintenance cost.
My bet, hybrids and the gasoline engine will both be history - after hydrogen and methane fueled vehicles become the norm. Right now hybrids are good at one thing only - higher costs and greater headaches.
Oh, and watch out too for the danger of metal hydride batteries - they've caused serious burns and death in bad accidents.