hybrid costs?

Question

has anyone seen a website that helps understand the cost of owning a hybrid? like

35,000 to buy it -3000 in tax credit +7300 for the battery replacement right after warranty ends and the difference in cost of gas. id like to see something like that broken down.

ok so, you people could learn from me...
3000 IS the tax credit on a fwd escape hybrid its only 2200 for a 4wd escape hybrid. the battery pack DOES cost 7300 bucks if you dont believe me the OFFICIAL part number is 8m6z-10b759-a and it does cost over seven thousand dollars, american dollars... so you people are now not as stupid as you were yesterday... and the reason i want this is to help show stupid people how hybrids are a scam to get people who feel guilty to throw away money.

Answer 1

these are the key cost items:

Depreciation
Fees and Taxes
Financing
Fuel Cost
Insurance
Maintenance
Repairs
Opportunity Cost


do u have a model in mind? i recently looked at honda civic hybrid, MSRP is $22K, invoice is $22K, 5-year ownership cost is about $47K, assuming 10K miles / year, $2K tax credit, 6.5% financing on $20K for 60 months, 66% depreciation by 5-year end

use yahoo auto to do the research of cost to own, e.g.

http://autos.yahoo.com/honda_civic_hybrid_cvt_at_pzev-price/

Answer 2

Well since i sell & drive Fords , I'll give you a breakdown on the Ford Hybrid Escape.
Priced at $25,740 (FWD)

Federal tax incentive is $3000 on this model.
( This vehicle qualifies for the largest tax incentive of all the Hybrids. To find out what other vehicles qualify for you can see the chart at the IRS website )

The Battery (and all hybrid componants) is covered under the Ford Warranty for 8 years or 100,000 miles.
The cost to replace the battery (IF you would need to ) has yet to be determined. We have thousands on the road ('05, '06, '07 & '08 model years) & have been clocking hundreds of thousands of miles & the batterys are holding up quite well.

Maintenance costs on the Hybrid Escape is identicle to the non-hybrid Escape with one exception. The recommended Oil change interval for the Hybrid is ONCE A YEAR or ONCE EVERY 10, 000 miles (whichever occurs 1st)

Lastly I will tell you about fuel savings . For this I will use my own personal, real life experience. We all know that the EPA ratings that you see on a window sticker are not neccesarily accurate. So those figures are completely useless.

When comparing a non-hybrid Escape VS a Hybrid Escape I DOUBLED my Mpg.....so therefor my fuel costs were cut in half !

When comparing vehicles please don't assume that just because a vehicle is labeled "Hybrid" that it will cut your fuel costs in half. All hybrids are not created equal & some actually get pretty lousy gas mileage. There are different kinds of hybrid systems & the Ford hybrid system is classified a "Fully Hybrid" There are others that are classified as "Mild Hybrid"

For more detailed info I suggest you go to http://hybridcars.com/


I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I don't know, sorry. But I don't think the tax credit is that high anymore, last I heard it was about 800. Possibly depends on the vehicle, I can't say for sure, but it's something to look into before buying.

Excuse us for even answering your question with our stupid answers. You don't have to be a total prick about it! Why don't you do your own research then, you wont be happy with anyones answer.
I just know that some people have bought the cars thinking they would get thousands of dollars in tax credit, and find that they are getting much less. I thought I would point it out incase you didn't already know.

But since you already know every damn thing there is to know there's no point in posting your question here, except for just wanting to be a jerk to every person that you think is dumber than you.
Next time why don't you ask "Why are people stupid enough to buy hybrids" and then you can educate everyone on how stupid they are and why!

Answer 4

I don't think you'll find that a hybrid car is justifiable on purely monetary basis, unless gas prices go way up, which of course, they might. The tax credit depends on the car and how many of that model are sold at the time you buy it. You won't get any credit if you are subject to AMT.

As far as battery cost goes, you are probably estimating a little high. In November of 2005, when asked about the price of a new Prius battery, Toyota spokeswoman Mona Richard said, "The service parts price for a new battery is $3000, but we have not had to sell a battery yet." Plus, battery prices are likely to come down over time as the technology improves and economies of scale kick in.

If you want to pollute less, reduce your carbon footprint, support the development of improved technology, and make a political statement about where your priorities lie, then you can consider whether it is worth it to you to spend the extra money for a hybrid.

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I found Hankness' contention about the earth's atmosphere over billion of years to be interesting. Billions of years ago, the atmosphere on Earth was very different from what it is today. For one thing, it had almost no free oxygen! What accounts for the dramatic difference? Plant life! So, if the combined action of plants can totally transform the atmosphere, is it so unreasonable to wonder whether the combined activity of 6 billion humans, our livestock, automobiles, individually heated homes, power plants, and factories couldn't make a small difference to the composition of the atmosphere? The increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution is a documented fact. Measurements taken from ice cores in Antartica can give us an idea of atmospheric CO2 levels over much longer timespans, and the indications are that C02 levels are something like 50% higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years. Now, you can argue whether that is responsible for the climate change we've been experiencing, or what the effects will be going forward, but you can't, I think, make a credible argument that human activity is not having an effect on atmospheric composition.

Why can't well-meaning people who are concerned about the problem make good-faith efforts to reduce their impact? Why does it have to be a guilt-based thing?

While we're at it, why is it perfectly ok to buy an expensive luxury car, or sports car, or an SUV that you'll never take off-road, in order to make a statement about how rich, or cool, or stylish you are, but if you spend a much smaller increment extra to buy a hybrid car that will pollute less, contribute less to global warming, and improve our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, you are castigated for being "trendy"? I just don't get it.

Answer 5

You are not going to save enough in gasoline costs to justify the extra cost in buying a hybrid.

Hybrids are made for people who have a guilty conscience because the media and Al Gore were able to convince them that humans (especially American ones) are able to change a planet's entire atmosphere that has been around for billions of years by driving cars for a hundred years, and now have to mend that guilty conscience by throwing their money away on overpriced cars and $18 light bulbs. Not to mention investing hard-earned money on fictional products called "carbon credits".