Do hybrids save money? – Autoblog – www.autoblog.com:
Posted Oct 2, 2005, 6:00 PM ET by Stuart Waterman
Related entries: Hybrids/Alternative

No. That’s the conclusion of Joe White, Detroit Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal

White first looked at trading in his Subaru for a Prius, and found that at roughly $3 per gallon for gas, he wouldn’t recover his financing costs. Joe figured that at his annual mileage, he’d save about $746 a year in fuel costs, but it would take too long to recover the  premium he’d pay for the hybrid.

Next he looked at the hypothetical situation of someone without a car looking to buy either a Honda Civic or the Prius. In this case, the fuel savings were roughly $506 per year, versus a purchase price difference of about $8,000. Without even considering cost-of-money issues, it would take nearly 16 years just to break even.

The bottom line? Unless gas prices go a lot higher, or the government increases hybrid subsidies, or both, buying a hybrid probably won’t save you money. Of course, there are the intangible but real benefits of reducing your personal environmental impact, but then you have to ask yourself if you’re really getting the biggest bang for your environmental investment.

Interesting analysis.  Wifee and I were considering the benefits of having a hybrid around, but w/o doing any serious numbers, I was unaware of the price premium you’d have to pay for one. 

In our case, the wifee was considering getting rid of her SUV in favor of something that got better mileage, so the numbers would work out much better in our favor, but it’s still eye opening to read facts like this.

In the end, it was just too inconvenient to give up the “U” in SUV that she wants/needs in order to save some bucks at the pump, so I needn’t be too concerned, anyway.