reason.org — A study concludes that hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids' energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs. For instance, the energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile vs $1.949 per mile for the Hummer.
Jul 19, 2006 View in Crawl 4
jwsismeJul 20, 2006
www.reason.orgReason FoundationConservative libertarian think tank. Challenges strict environmental regulations.<a class="user" href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=286">http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=286</a>
twinklyjesusJul 20, 2006
Next time try replying in the appropriate thread...
getpfunkyJul 20, 2006
Then I'm sure my Volvo that's pushing 425K miles will be priced well below the Hummer. Their Logic is flawed.
tashannaJul 20, 2006
Generally, I think this study is hopelessly flawed. The best indication is that they place a huge significance on the cost to recycle and dispose of the vehicle. For most cases, the recycling and disposal cost is 10x the purchase price of the car. For example (in around p240 of the paper), of the $393k of 'social cost' for the Civic hybrid, $300k is disposal. Of this disposal cost, $130k is the cost to reclaim recyclable portions of the car. This $130k recycling cost is justified by the statement that the recycler can resell parts for 10% more than his costs. Ok, right, a $23k car is worth $144k on the open market as material - it's a wonder we have any cars left on the road. That's crap. The $170k non-recyclable cost is also very dubious, but is so poorly documented that it's impossible to debunk it except for the fact that a junk yard isn't charging $100k to dispose of an old car.
askjeffroJul 21, 2006
Read your quote again, you are reading it incorrectly. It is saying Japanese Hybrids and non-hybrids, regardless of make.
cwerdnaJul 22, 2006
Man, instead of their previous spreadsheet that they used to provide (which was already hard to read) which I'd cited, now they bury everything with random crap in a 458 page file. It still has same total BS about disposal costs (like on the VW Phaeton I mentioned). It makes NO SENSE that a VW Phaeton that in their own study costs $100K would have $1.8 MILLION in non-recyclables disposal costs (see p. 258). Where does this $ come from? The tooth fairy?They still have the same bogus claim that a Prius somehow lasts only 109K miles (gee the hybrid battery is warranty in CA and a few other states for 10 years/150K miles) yet an unreliable Ford Excursion somehow lasts 269K miles. Their totally bogus claimed lifespan is part of the main reason why they claim the "costs" per mile are "high" for hybrids.They still have the bogus claim that for some reason, someone driving a fuel miser like a Prius would only drive 9146 miles/year (p. 40) yet someone w/a guzzler like a Chevy Tahoe would drive 14K miles. BTW, <a class="user" href="http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/10486/2007-chevrolet-tahoe-ltz-page4.html">http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/10486/2007-chevrolet-tahoe-ltz-page4.html</a> got 12 mpg on the Tahoe and 42 on a Prius <a class="user" href="http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/7701/toyota-prius-page4.html.">http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/7701/toyota-prius-page4.html.</a> My lifetime average so far on my 06 Prius is ~45.5 mpg.I attached ZIP of the files they had up at the time I refuted this bogus study at <a class="user" href="http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17795&st=40&p=272611&#entry272611.">http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=17795&st=40&p=272611&#entry272611.</a> The XLS file is much easier to read.
xdouteNov 12, 2008
you are right!