Hybrids Won't Save You Any Money

[HarleyEarl]

http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/news,v...rtid=49585&pg=1

September 27, 2005
Hybrids won't save you any money
by Alex Law , Auto123

Here's a hard truth about hybrid vehicles that everyone who's considering one needs to know -- getting a hybrid will not save you any money, it will almost certainly cost you more.

A hybrid will use some smaller amount of fuel (though how much is open to question and depends greatly upon how and where you drive), and that helps the environment a little, but not too much. If you're willing to pay more money for that, good for you.

But the only way hybrids would save you money is if the car companies weren't charging extra for them, but they are charging thousands of dollars for them, so any reduction in fuel costs is far outweighed by the extra upfront cost.

There are only two ways that owning a hybrid can actually save you money:

-if you drive maybe three or four times as much a year as the average driver (60,000-80,000 km instead of the normal 20,000 km), and

-if gas prices triple or quadruple and the car companies don't raise the premiums even higher.

Outside of those two scenarios, hybrids will cost you more than a traditional vehicle to own and operate.

Independent studies in British Columbia and California have made the financial truth of hybrids clear, and you can work your own case out quite simply when you get quotes from your dealer.

Take the Transport Canada figures and calculate how many litres of fuel a hybrid and non-hybrid will use to go 20,000 km. The difference between the two figures represents the amount of fuel you won't have to buy if you actually achieve that kind of mileage. Multiply the number of litres you might save by the price of a litre of gas. Compare that with the extra cost for buying a premium. You will be amazed at the huge difference.

Even the car companies are careful not to claim that buying a hybrid will save you money over a traditional vehicle. In a recent rah-rah press release from Toyota Canada kicking off a hybrid promotion called Ready To Go, for example, the Japanese company talks about the "many benefits of hybrid technology" but does not mention the customer saving money.

This is worth bearing in mind as Toyota as well as Ford launch separate marketing campaigns to entice people into buying a hybrid, which is a vehicle with a regular internal-combustion gasoline engine and an electric motor. The power sources work together or separately to propel the vehicle, and for the most part they do the best job of improving fuel economy in constant city driving.

Most people considering hybrids will be surprised to hear this about costs, since the case of mass hysteria created by uninformed or incompetent media reports leads everyone to think they will save consumers money.

For me, the chief benefit of a hybrid would be that you won't need to stop to fill it up as much, since greater fuel economy always means greater range.

But in terms of actually saving you money, that won't happen until hybrid prices collapse, and that's not likely to happen anytime soon for a pair of reasons.

First off, too many people are willing to pay extra for the dubious pleasure of looking trendy.

Secondly, car companies are pretty much charging what it costs to build their hybrids, since costs for this technology are way above what it costs to build a traditional car.

(click on link for rest of article)

[Bimmer325]

I applaud the effort, but Mr. Law would be better off conducting a bit more research before making such outrageous claims.

car companies are pretty much charging what it costs to build their hybrids, since costs for this technology are way above what it costs to build a traditional car.

First of all, hybrids have just begun moving out of the niche they currently occupy. The price premium demanded for hybrid models will lower significantly within the next two years as an onslaught of new hybrid models debut. More competition in the hybrid market coupled with more efficient manufacturing will lower the price premium to a mere $1,000 before decade's end. Regardless, the cash-rewards currently offered to hybrid owners cancels out the price premium anyway. The federal government is offering a $2,000 tax-deduction for those who purchase hybrids in 2005. Companies such as Hyperion in California offer in excess of $5,000 to employees who purchase hybrid cars this year.

Aside from pricing, hybrids like the Prius can travel hundreds of miles between fill-ups. Anyone preaching against the financial benefits of hybrids is forgetting the power of instant gratification. That $50 to $100 dropped on gas each week becomes obsolete.

A hybrid will use some smaller amount of fuel (though how much is open to question and depends greatly upon how and where you drive), and that helps the environment a little, but not too much.

This statement is absurd. Gasoline consumption is just one facet of the environmental benefits hybrids provide. Hybrids consume less than half the amount of petrol than the average gasoline-powered car, thus releasing less than half as much climate-changing carbon dioxide. Emissions of smog-forming pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, are 90% lower.

Hybrids aren't going anywhere. In fact, the hybrid market is projected to grow to the size of today's minivan market by 2010. Price premiums are already decreasing, and will become nearly non-existent fast. Any entirely new technology would take time to adjust and catch on in the market. Hybrids already have, and anyone convinced otherwise truly is foolish to say the least.

[HarleyEarl]

I think Hybrids are the fashion of the day. Even the head of Nissan indicates they are a bad business proposition. They are a PR exercise and a money loser for companies. Toyota is quite genius in using this as a ploy to look all green and tree hugger friendly, while they make gas guzzlers like the Sequoia. Just wait until these batteries have to be replaced....or in accidents, people being showered with acid. Everytime I hear the word Hybrid, I just want to barf.

[Flybrian]

Anyone preaching against the financial benefits of hybrids is forgetting the power of instant gratification.

So I should spend over markup for psychological reasons?

Riiiiight.

The truth is, most people will not benefit from hybrids, especially those trading in a newer vehicle for one. It makes more sense to pay off that vehicle and purchase a few-year-old 5-speed econobox for commuting.

[Satty]

One of the drivers I work with recently bought a Civic Hybrid. His wife is a teacher who has a 70 mile/day commute, he is a dispatcher for the highway patrol and delivers pizza a couple of days a week to keep his discount and have some extra cash. The sold their Intrigue to get it, and so far they have been getting mid-40s mpg, roughly double what they got with the Intrigue.

[z28luvr01]

That's not really all that impressive, considering that they could have gotten a non-hybrid Civic HX that gets 44mpg that probably cost much less.

[Sixty8panther]

I've been saying exactly this for how long? Buying a Hybrid to save on gas is more shortsighted than buying a Cow to save on milk.

[Nick]

you know, I was suprised. last night my friend's aunt was over. She is a salesperson at a toyota dealership and she owns a prius. Got it for 26,000. I was talking with her about it. She says the reason the gas mileage in the prius can get screwed up is first, when they are imported they need to be recalibrated, something she walked me through. Then she also mentioned (which I thought was rediculous, but made sence) You can't drive it like a normal car. When people buy priuses they are taught the correct way to drive them. But I actually took it out for a spin around town for a while. I was averaging 46 mpg the entire time. She says she only has to fill up about once every three months and she uses it as a daily driver. She also says it's nice because she can drive it by herself in the carpool lane as well as the large tax refund or whatever it is she gets back. She was mentioning last year she will get 3000 back for it or something like that. So maybe the prius isn't all that hype after all.

[capriceman]

AAAAHHHHH metric KM us stupid americans right HE! but this is intresting a lady downt the street owns the ugly fuel sipping thing and she only gets about 36 MPG and she fills up every other week. she is selling it back to the dealer tho she doesnt feel safe on the hiway and its about the same to run as her husbands Focus.