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Hybrid autos don't make economic sense
My 2 cents worth on Hybrid cars-
With gas and diesel both costing alomost double the price of 18 months ago, and no reduction in sight, I have been toying with the idea of turning in my 3/4 ton truck for an economy car. I considered the hybrids, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, and came up with the following conclusion after "running the numbers": Comparing the purchase price of a Prius to a Corolla, including CA Sales Tax and DMV fees, the Prius comes out to about $6000 more, and gets perhaps 10 mpg better fuel economy on average. What does this mean in dollars spent? The bottom line is that the cost of ownership for purchase price and fuel (but not including hard-to-guesstimate costs like insurance and repairs), for the Prius vs. Corolla doesn't equalize out until you have driven more than 500,000 miles! Now that's at the current $2.00/gallon for gas. If gas should spike up to $4.00/gallon, you would get more benefit from the Prius, but you would still have to drive 250,000 miles to equalize costs. How about comparing the Prius to the Echo, which looks like almost the same car body, and maybe the same or very similar chassis. The Prius costs $10,000 more than an Echo, and gets about the same fuel economy as the Corolla, so you would have to drive ALMOST A MILLION MILES before the Prius would give any cost benefit over the Echo. That's over 50 years of driving at 15K miles a year. Very few small cars last more than 25 years or 200,000 miles, and it costs so much in parts and repairs to keep them running longer than that, that it makes more sense to just buy a new one than repair a faltering, worn out old one. The numbers for the Honda Insight vs. base model Civic are similar: the Insight can NEVER pay for itself compared to a much lower-priced regular Civic. Two other things to consider: Battery replacement cost for either the Prius or Insight costs anywhere from $3000 to $8000 depending on whose reports you believe, and the batteries probably will last no more than 100K miles before they lose so much charge capacity that the car will no longer function properly. In hot climates like Phoenix, Arizona or Las Vegas, Nevada, the battery life is probably cut by at least another 30%. The second issue is "real world" fuel economy. It has been reported with increasing frequency that Hybrid owners are not getting nearly the "fantastic" fuel economy numbers reported by the EPA. Many Insight and Prius owners are reporting that they often get MPG only a little better than they would be getting with a regular Civic or Echo. This may be due to the way the EPA tests fuel economy, which is by measuring tailpipe emissions with the car on a dyno, NOT by actually driving the car on real streets and highways. I read a report that said that this test methodology may not be valid for Hybrids since they are so technologically different than a conventional vehicle. Anyway, it looks like there is just no way that the dollar cost of ownership for a Hybrid can be justified as long as gas prices don't climb too much higher, or unless the manufacturers somehow get the cost and retail price down to reasonable levels where the Hybrids can genuinely compete with regular cars of similar size and performance. BTW, I also took a quick look at the new Ford Escape hybrid. Like the Prius and Insight, it's many thousands of dollars more than a regular Escape, and only gets maybe 10 mpg better fuel economy. Doesn't make sense unless we end up with $10.00/gallon gas. As for replacing my 6 year old (and all paid for) Dodge Cummins Diesel truck with a Corolla to save gas, it would take 200,000 miles for the fuel savings to pay for the new car, so I guess I will stick with my truck unless the retail price of diesel fuel shoots so high that I have to take out a second mortgage on my house to fill the tank. |
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Roger Blake > wrote:
> On 13 Oct 2004 11:57:41 -0700, sherpadude > wrote: >>I might also argue the as we are global citizens sometimes the >>"economic" advantage shouldn't be the only motivation to buy > Speak for yourself. I make my purchases based on economics and my own > preference and could not care less how they affect you or anyone else. > If you feel differently feel free to spend tens of thousands of dollars > of your own money on a pregnant roller skate. My vehicles gets 15 miles > per gallon, on a good day -- and I'm keeping it. > Screw "the community" is my motto. That's why i bought a prius. Good performance, auto trans, quiet and consumes very little gas -- the end effect is that i drive cheap, does not have to visit gas stations as often and can buy beer for all the money i used to spend on gas. Some people just don't "get it" -- Peter Håkanson IPSec Sverige ( At Gothenburg Riverside ) Sorry about my e-mail address, but i'm trying to keep spam out, remove "icke-reklam" if you feel for mailing me. Thanx. |
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