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Sep 22, 2007 - Boon or Bane?

According to one famous comedian, somewhere in the world there is the worst doctor and someone is waiting to see him. And as Forbes.com pointed out recently, there are also the least efficient hybrids out there in showrooms.

The story points out that "the average gas mileage of hybrid models available in the U.S. is 33 miles per gallon (combined city and highway). But Chevy's newest Silverado hybrid truck gets only 16 mpg. The newest Lexus LS 600h L hybrid sedan clocks in at 21 mpg, the 2007 Saturn Vue hybrid at 26 mpg."

Interesting that other than my 4x4 pickup, every vehicle I've owned in the last 27 years has gotten at least that 33mpg combined average that the current hybrids are averaging. It's also interesting that mileage performance seems to have gone down over the years, but that's another blog for another day.

A J.D. Power study cited in the article found that "buyers expected hybrids to gain 18.5 mpg over similar non-hybrid vehicles." As much as hybrid enthusiasts want to ignore the "hybrid premium", the decision to purchase a hybrid for many doesn't come down to whether or not someone wants to  "go green", but how much of their green it's going to cost.

Many hybrid owners do squeeze astronomical mileage numbers out of their hybrids using hypermiling techniques, but setting those aside, and ignoring those people who drive like maniacs and complain that their hyrbid doesn't perform as advertised, you can sift through the real world mileage discussions on the CarSpace forums and find folks who are simply driving their vehicles to get a feel for the kind of mileage performance you might get in your average daily driving.

Average Prius owners, for example, seem to be reporting combined driving mileage numbers of 48-50mpg.  Price on the base 2007 Prius is $22,175. Price on my base 2007 Versa that I purchased in February was $13,675, and I'm getting 33mpg in combined driving. That puts me right in the range of that 18.5 mpg difference that buyers expect hybrids to get over similar non-hybrid vehicles.

The Prius and Versa would seem to be vehicles of a similar class with regard to form and function. If my past driving habits continue, I'll be driving it about 10,000 miles per year and using roughly 303 gallons of gasoline. Had I purchased a Prius and was getting 50mpg, I could expect to use only 200 gallons over the course of a year, saving me 103 gallons of gas annually. Using $4/gallon gas prices to give me even more incentive to choose a hybrid, that's $412 per year still in my pocket. Price difference between the cars is $8500. You know the math. That's over 20 years to break even. And even the most loyal hybrid advocate doesn't expect that the hybrid battery pack won't have to be replaced in that length of time. Normal maintenance and wear and tear is going to be the same for both, so that's a wash.

So other than to feel good about myself or tell people how much smarter I am than they are, where's my incentive to buy?

Premium hybrid
It will cost me more? No thanks
Hybrid premium

3:32 am | Categories: automotive haiku, fuel efficiency, hybrid premium, hybrids, hypermiling, nissan versa, toyota prius Permalink | Alert Administrator

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