Hybrids vs normal cars?

Question

im writing a paper on hybrids and i need to know what are some positives of normal cars and how are they better and worse than the Hybrids. If you have any info or you know a site i would greatly apprechiated. Thanks

Answer 1

Hybrids get about 25% better gas mileage, which means that you spend 80 cents on gas for every dollar you would have spent for the same car but not a hybrid. Hybrid cars tend to cost about 5000 dollars more than their regular counterparts so the math says that after saving maybe a grand with tax incentives you would have to use 19000 dollars of gas (equivilant of about 24000 dollars on a regular car) which is about 800 gallons which is about 32000 miles. If you are going to drive 32000 miles before you either sell or trade in the car, then from a purely financial standpoint, a hybrid is worth it.

As far as the environment goes, they pollute less for 3 reasons.
1. They have smaller engines which leads to more efficient combustion with less pollutants.
2. They use less gas, so less gas = less pollution.
3. They are built and engineered to pollute less.


P.S. The answer above me is totally wrong. Hybrids do great in the city because the constant use of the breaks (which are used to recharge the batteries) in stop and go traffic reduces use of the gas engine, and allows more use of the electric motor. In fact, some early hybrids such as the Honda Insight actually got better gas milage in the city than on the highway.

Answer 2

The truth is a high fuel mileage vehicle, such as a VW diesel, gets almost the same fuel mileage as a Hybrid does. The 'conventional' vehicle costs much less, will run much longer with routine maintence than hybrids, has no ultra expensive batteries or fuel cells to replace and can be repaired at almost any mechanical/collision shop. The hybrids have to be transported to a dealer just to power-down the batteries before removal or they will be permanently damaged. Hybrids may be a step in the right direction but only time will tell if the buying public will vote for or against. Just check the dealer lots -- since the last fuel scare hybrids are now gathering dust and the dealers can't even fire-sale them.

Answer 3

Hybrids are great in the city. They'll only run the engine when needed instead of idling all the time. On the highway, you'll do just as well with a normal car. Dropping your speed 5mph will save more gas than driving a hybrid on the highway. When the hybrid needs batteries, it will be EXPENSIVE. Check out the link below to an article about a guy who gets 59mpg in a plain old Accord.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html

Answer 4

Here's a negative: If you figure the difference in price of the car (usually $5,000.) and the claimed fuel saving it'll take you 5.5 years to make up the added inital cost of the car. Math out a Toyota Camry Hybrid and a regular Camry. The fuel difference is 35 for the regular Camry and 43 for the hybrid. Use a constant fuel price for 6 years to do your math expreiment. Figure the national average mileage 12,000 miles per year.

Answer 5

I bought a car a couple years ago. It was about $14,000 and gets about 35 MPG highway. The hybrid version was about $21.000 and gets about 45 MPG highway. I drive about 8,000 miles per year. Gasoline is about $2.50 per gallon.

So the choice was to pay $7,000 more for a hybrid so that I could save about $127 per year on gas. At that rate I would have to drive the car for over 55 years to break even (actually much much longer oif you consider the time value of the money). In fact I could invest the $7,000 at 5% and earn $350 interest per year (about 275% as much as the gas savings).

If I drove about 22,000 miles per year the gas savings would about equal the interest I could earn on the $7,000. But even then I would have had to try to factor in the reliability and maintenance cost of a hybrid versus a convential car.

So definitely upfront cost is a considerable downside to a hybrid.

Answer 6

hybrids are a scam. gas mileage is determined by settings that govern gasoline flow. my 1968 6cyl Chevy Biscayne used to get 25 mpg back in the 80's. my 1978 Honda cvcc used to get 45-50 mpg in the 80's and my 1998 ford ranger with 240,000 miles gets 35 mpg. the only reason hybrids "seem" to get good gas mileage (if you consider 35mpg good) is because they are small and lightweight not because they are better. all the auto manufacturers need to do is adjust the settings in the computers that govern fuel and emissions and , fyi, normal cars burn gas/ethanol mixtures already and have for years.

Answer 7

oddly enough, cars with just gas motors tend to get better mileage around town as they're not carrying all the extra weight. hybrids use their electrics mainly on the highway, so that's where they really shine fuel-economywise.

Answer 8

HybridCars.com has a lot of good information on hybrids, their incentives, and their history. Check it out.

Answer 9

well hybrids tend to be slower which throws the consumer not to buy 1 . hybrids are up to 70%cleaner. lol idk dude.