Will plug-in-hybrid vehicles solve anything?

drkitten said:
It helps the cause of more efficient -- or more efficiently used -- vehicles, certainly.

I doubt it will have that much effect on plug-in hybrids, though.

If I find the price of gasoline to be a financial hardship, I'm almost certainly not going to be able to afford the additional cost of upgrading to a hybrid. Instead I'd probably either drive less, take public transit, or if necessary sell my car and buy a smaller sized one. (Drop from the Accord to the Civic, or the Civic to the Fit, or from the Fit to a motorcycle.)

The idea that I can't afford $200 more a month to fill the Accord, so instead I'll pay another $300 a month in payments for a hybrid is,.... counterintuitive.
Click to expand...

I thought I'd do a few calculations to examine the issue of the affordability of hybrids.

Assumptions
capital cost: 5%
cost of non-hybrid vehicle $20,000
cost of hybrid vehicle $25,000
non-hybrid vehicle mileage: 30 mpg
hybrid vehicle mileage: 45 mpg
miles driven: 10K, 12K, 15K, & 20K
gas price: $4, $5, & $6
life of car: 12 years & 200,000 miles
maintenance and insurance costs: excluded from calcs, assume same for both vehicles

I was surprised at how similar the costs for both vehicles was across the various permutations.

A few samples:
10K miles, life of car 200,000 miles, gas price $4
cost per year hybrid - 3388.89
cost per year non-hybrid - 3142.86

20K miles, life of car 200,000 miles, gas price $4
cost per year hybrid - 5527.78
cost per year non-hybrid - 5285.71

10K miles, life of car 200,000 miles, gas price $6
cost per year hybrid - 3833.33
cost per year non-hybrid - 3714.29

20K miles, life of car 200,000 miles, gas price $6
cost per year hybrid - 6416.67
cost per year non-hybrid - 6428.57

And of course any advantage of hybrids is reduced if the mileage difference between a hybrid and a non-hybrid is less than I have assumed here as is the case for most non-Prius hybrids.

The bottom line is that drkitten seems to be right. If you want to save money buy a cheap, high mileage car and right now cheap excludes hybrids.
 
fishbob said:
10 cars that get more than 40 MPG - and you can't buy hardly any of them in the US.

Article
Click to expand...

That's mainly because of the strict government regulation on diesels. Also, the American consumers do not want these smaller vehicles because gas is still relatively cheap.
 
Sati1984 said:
In a news program of one of the Hungarian channels this morning they announced that gasoline prices will be as high as 380 Forints per litre (approx $1,7) if the Lybian protests will continue for a month.

Does this (or the rise of the price of gasoline in general) help the cause of plug-in-hybrids?
Click to expand...

I think it will. Even if buying a Volt won't save you any money, as gas prices go up, people will by them.

Never underestimate the power of spite.
 
Even if I already shelled out more money than I'm saving, I do enjoy not breaking my budget when gas prices climb dramatically.

Theoretically yes, I could have bought a cheaper car and set aside the money to use for the extra gas... but who actually does that?
 
Consumer Reports weighs in on the Volt:
General Motors’ mostly electric Chevy Volt turned in a lackluster performance for efficiency in its first series of road tests by product raters at Consumer Reports.

“We would have really liked to have loved it,” David Champion, director of Consumer Reports auto test center told Reuters on Monday after announcing the organization’s top picks for 2011.

“It was fun to drive and the ride quality was pretty good. But when you look at the finances, for us it doesn’t make any sense,” Champion said.

He said consumers seeking value and top fuel efficiency would be better off buying a top-performing gasoline/electric hybrid like the Toyota Prius or a Fusion by Ford.

Champion’s group rates ownership costs, reliability and performance in assessing value.

...The Volt, which rolled off the assembly line in December, retails for about $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit. The baseline Prius sells for $23,000 while the Fusion hybrid costs about $28,000.
Click to expand...
It only managed 26 miles before the battery ran out and the gas engine kicked in. The testing was done in the winter, it probably would do better in warmer weather. Of course, running a/c in summer would also run the battery down sooner. Very disappointing for $41,000.
 
Last edited:
WildCat said:
Consumer Reports weighs in on the Volt:

It only managed 26 miles before the battery ran out and the gas engine kicked in. The testing was done in the winter, it probably would do better in warmer weather. Of course, running a/c in summer would also run the battery down sooner. Very disappointing for $41,000.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is very disappointing. Nikola Tesla would die laughing looking at a performance like this in 2000 freakin' 11 - if he wouldn't be dead already.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom