We were so enamoured with it that upon reaching a computer we went to see how much one of these things would go for. What we discovered was discouraging. The base price for a Prius hovered around the $27,000 range and the nicely equipped models could go well into the 30k range. Not really a bargain when you consider we had just purchased a fully loaded Mazda Protege for $18,000 a few years earlier.
So what's wrong with hybrids? They're stupidly expensive. The price you pay for a hybrid generally won't be worth its weight in the gas savings. Depending on the price of gas, a Toyota Prius will take between 6 and 13 years to make itself worthwhile, which is only slightly worse than a Honda Civic Hybrid, the best performing of the hybrids when talking about cost-savings. A number of people have also pointed to the repair costs of these cars, which can skyrocket higher than a Volvo (Volvo owners know what I'm talking about), primarily because of the complex (or at least, different) engine system and the need to replace the electric engine (which will usually run you at least $5000).
Now, it is true that as gas becomes more expensive hybrids might start to make a better case. And the environmental benefits are generally clear: you use less gas so you'll produce less carbon emissions.
But what happens (as we all know it will eventually) when gas prices really spike? And I don't mean a relatively measly $1.40/L, I mean prices higher than you get in Europe. A future where Canadian gasoline will cost over $3.00/L is not too far off. Everyone will want hybrids so they can save as much gas (and money) as possible. And here is where I worry.
From an environmental standpoint, the cost of gasoline and oil rising is a good thing. People will use less of it and less carbon will be emitted. With hybrids thrown into the mix, the danger of a rebound effect presents itself. The rebound effect (in environmental terms) occurs when the efficiency of a specific product or action is increased and people figure their use of this product can also be increased because now they're doing less harm, but their usage increases to such a point where the environmental benefits of the improvements in efficiency are overtaken by the increased usage. Your new lightbulbs are far more efficient than your old ones, so rather than turning out your lights, you leave them running all day convinced that the efficiency improvements make it OK, whereby you are actually increasing the absolute amount of energy used.
It works similarly with hybrids. Fuel efficiency of cars goes up, so drivers become convinced they can drive more, so more gas and oil is consumed than before and soon the environment is actually worse off.
So what should we do? First and foremost, we should focus strongly on public transportation, especially in urban centres. Tim has posted numerous pieces on how to make this happen. Secondly, we might not be able to break our addiction to the personal vehicle, so we should make them as clean as possible, either through electric vehicles (Chevrolet Volt) sourced by renewable energy or hydrogen fuel cells (Toyota and Honda are leading that race).
These solutions are seemingly quite far off in the distance, but they are the real thing. Band-aid solutions like hybrids only lengthen the time gap getting there.
But if you want to buy a hybrid, here's how you should do it. Wait right until the economic downturn starts to make its way up. Hybrids are cheap when oil prices are low because no one needs them, but when oil prices rise, the price-tag of those hybrids will skyrocket. Grab one right before that happens. Then you can save loads of money and pat yourself on the back for being an 'eco-driver'.
No comments:
Post a Comment