Hybrid for Next Car?

Many people are led to believe that a hybrid is a great choice not just to save fuel, but also money over the ownership period of the vehicle. While you may save money at the pumps, more & more critics agree, that the higher upfront cost of a hybrid may never give you the pay back in fuel savings. A good example of this is the Nissan Leaf. While this car puts out zero emissions, it also has a very limited range of 160 Km per charge, and the current infrastructure cannot accommodate charging stations which could leave you stranded. The Chevrolet Volt puts out very little emissions, however the cost premium of this vehicle exceeds the energy savings.

Hybrids or Electric Vehicles (EVs) will only become attractive to purchase when they are priced competitively against similarly loaded and powered internal combustion engined vehicles. Also when the range is increased to about a minimum of 400 Km per charge. Currently the only people who seem to be purchasing hybrids are taxi fleets, rental car fleets, and environmentally friendly individuals. For them, the expensive upfront cost does not matter as much as how much positive impact they can make on the environment. But for us average individuals, it could take between 7 - 10 years before the fuel savings finally pay for the excessive cost of the vehicle.

It will take a very long time before our infrastructure can accommodate charging stations for EVs, more time to produce a vehicle with at least 400 Km driving range per "tank", and even more time to make the necessary technology to produce these vehicles affordably.

Until then, if you are looking to save money and fuel, and also do your part to protect the environment, the best way to go is to purchase an efficient internal combustion engine. These modern vehicles have comfort, safety, no range anxiety, decent performance, are fun to drive, do not cost thousands of extra dollars upfront, and also are less polluting to produce since they have no toxic metals needed to make a hybrid or EV function.