Hybrid Cars
For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about getting a new car (I have a ’96 Camry w/ 155k miles and I bought the Toyota for reliability… age does reliability no favors). And considering how much I hem’n’haw about energy conservation and alternate forms of energy, I got to thinking about buying a hybrid. I figure for all my talk, I ought to walk the walk.
So I recently put down a deposit on a hybrid… a Civic hybrid. But even after I decided to spend the few extra thousand dollars ($16k vs $22k), I hesitated. Either amount is a good chunk of change for me. And it just seemed that adding the whole hybrid component complicated things. But I mentioned it to a do-good-friend of mine who ended up helping me make the decision to go for a hybrid and the Civic, in particular.
Why spend the extra $6k? Was it just a feel good thing? In part, but the investment should pay off in the long run. The analysis was fairly simple. I looked at the lowest life cycle cost, not the lowest first cost and the tax benefits. That is, with a
1) $2100 federal tax credit (http://www.aceee.org/transportation/hybtaxcred.htm)
2) $1000 state sales tax exemption on hybrids that get over 40mpg (http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/progs/view_ind.cgi?afdc/5758/0) ($16k x 6% = $1000) and
3) $2000 savings in gas (about an extra 10mpg) over five years(https://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=calcMPG)
I felt it wouldn’t cost anymore for the hybrid. And I may end up saving some money after the first five years. Having done my homework, the answer was pretty easy.
And if you read all the way to the end of this post, I hope you’ll now consider buying a hybrid. I believe the President was right to begin addressing America’s dependency on foreign oil in his recent State of the Union address. And buying a hybrid is one small way that you can do your part to help move America away from that dependency.
Tim White
Town Council, 4th District
TimWhite98@yahoo.com
5 comments:
I mentioned lowest life cycle cost vs. lowest first cost, but... that is a roll of the dice. Without a proven track record, maintenance on the hybrid aspects could prove to be more costly than I expect. But again... it's a gamble... a gamble that I think is worth taking.
I think that Tim is a great guy and works very hard on the Town Council. But, I do think that he spends too much of his time on Council business. I really think that Tim needs a girl. He needs better balance between his public life and private life. Tim needs to have more fun and not be so serious.
Anonymous... I'm not sure that I want to go down this path... Although I do appreciate your candor!
As for the amount of time I spend on Council business... public service is my passion. I truly enjoy serving the public. (It's just the "politics" part of it that can turn me off a bit.)
Tim, I entered a rather long comment about your hybrid, but when I went to preview it and get back your program ate it. Need's work.
Anyway, read Consumer Reports on your hybrid choice. Bottom line is that it will cost you about $4263 more to operate over 5 years than the comparable gas model. That's significant!
I'm afraid that alternative vehicles and fuels aren't quite ready for prime time yet, unfortunately. If you can get a copy of the consumer report article, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Georgels
George S... please check out this link and tell me what you think... (http://www.soultek.com/clean_energy/hybrid_cars/
consumer_reports_and_hybrid_cars_what_you_need_to_know.htm) I don't have CR, but you mention $4263 and this article mentions that number in relation to the Accord, but I bought a Civic. I'm not disagreeing with you as I don't have CR in front of me, but wanted to at least make sure we were on the same page.
What month/year CR? I'll look it up the next time I'm in the library.
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