How can hybrids save you money

Even the car companies are careful not to claim that buying a hybrid will save you money over a traditional vehicle. In a recent rah-rah press release from Toyota Canada kicking off a hybrid promotion called Ready To Go, for example, the Japanese company talks about the "many benefits of hybrid technology" but does not mention the customer saving money.

This is worth bearing in mind as Toyota as well as Ford launch separate marketing campaigns to entice people into buying a hybrid, which is a vehicle with a regular internal-combustion gasoline engine and an electric motor. The power sources work together or separately to propel the vehicle, and for the most part they do the best job of improving fuel economy in constant city driving.

Most people considering hybrids will be surprised to hear this about costs, since the case of mass hysteria created by uninformed or incompetent media reports leads everyone to think they will save consumers money. For me, the chief benefit of a hybrid would be that you won't need to stop to fill it up as much, since greater fuel economy always means greater range. But in terms of actually saving you money, that won't happen until hybrid prices collapse, and that's not likely to happen anytime soon for a pair of reasons.

First off, too many people are willing to pay extra for the dubious pleasure of looking trendy. Secondly, car companies are pretty much charging what it costs to build their hybrids, since costs for this technology are way above what it costs to build a traditional car.

Tags: Hybrid Editorial. You May Also Like. Hybrids sales stall could lead to lower prices Though the folks at Honda and Toyota particularly Toyota might beg to differ, I am not actually anti-hybrid.

Auto Buzz: Smart, hybrids, Quest, low-speed cruise It's beginning to look like the Smart division of DaimlerChrysler AG will survive, at least long enough to launch a new model of the ForTwo two-seater in More Articles.

Department of Energy and the U. Environmental Protection Agency. DOE and the U. Toggle navigation. Selling your car? We can help you advertise its mpg. Vehicles produce about half of the greenhouse gases from a typical U.

We can help you calculate and track your fuel economy. MPG estimates from drivers like you! Answers to frequently asked questions about octane. Consider the payback calculation on hybrids. Over time, that premium is offset by savings on gas. You can calculate the payback time quickly using Edmunds.

While the gas savings may be modest and the payback time could be many months, the outcome can change quickly based on these factors:. The payback time for EVs, which command an even greater premium than hybrids, is harder to calculate because there are so many moving pieces: federal, state and local incentives and tax credits, electricity and charging costs and the cost of a home charger. For an in-depth examination of expenses, see Hybrids and Electric Vehicles: Costs.

Green cars can demonstrate your values. Hybrids have lower emissions. Whether or not you want to telegraph it to the world, hybrids release fewer pollutants.

Use FuelEconomy. EVs have no emissions in a sense. Electricity, used to charge an EV, is produced in a variety of ways. But other states still produce electricity with coal-burning power plants that emit carbon dioxide, a contributing factor to global warming.