My father sent me an interesting article the other day on the payback periods of hybrid cars. Specifically, the study included the time value of money, the premium paid for the hybrid version vice the non-hybrid version (or closest fascimile), differences in repair costs, battery replacement, etc.

Here are the results, payback period, in years. I've divided it into four categories - Excellent, Good, Marginal, and Ridiculous

Excellent:
Toyota Prius - 3.5
Nissan Altima - 3.8
GMC Yukon - 4.9

Good:
Toyota Camry - 5.4
Mercury Mariner - 5.5
Ford Escape - 5.9
Honda Civic - 6.1
Saturn Vue - 6.9
Lexus RX400H - 6.9

Marginal:
Chevy Malibu - 10.9
Chevy Tahoe - 13.8
Toyota Highlander - 17.9

Ridiculous:
Saturn Aura - 31
Lexus LS600H - 98.5

I've posted the a copy of the full table, which includes the Final net price, the Hybrid premium, MPG difference, and Annual gas savings, here:



It's from the Edmunds study (no copyright).

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

I am human. Fully human.

Right, that number is highly dependent on the price of gasoline. If the price of gasoline goes up to US$8.00 the payback is less than a year. If the speculation market gets fixed, and prices fall down to $US2.00 the payback period might be a decade.

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Forming opinions as we speak

Look at the price difference between a Camry and a Hybrid Camry. Let's say that's $4000. Look at the difference in gas mileage. Let's say 10 MPG.

Now assume you drive 12,000 miles a year. How long does it take for the gas money saved to equal the price difference.

The numbers quoted by mugs' Dad also take into account regular maintenance.

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Forming opinions as we speak

Mods - please delete this post. For some reason the system errantly posted the first part of my OP.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

I am human. Fully human.

Exactly; We had a similar article in our paper a few weeks ago. Unfortunately; they went the other way on it, and didn't consider maintenance costs at all.
They only did the payback of the added initial cost vs the fuel consumption.
I remember them using 14,000 miles per year, but I can't remember the gas cost. I think they used $3.50
And; they omitted Prius from the list because there's no non-hybrid Prius but they did say it closely resembled a Camry.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Hi, Thanks for the reply and clarification.

Best regards, Dan

Interesting, I found a similar post with more info.

I predict a merge coming.

Anyway, the chart there only mentions price, premium and MPG. No maintenance.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

I have looked at this for my own personal experience with my 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid (yes, I've kept track of every fill-up and the price I paid). The differential between the hybrid and the non-hybrid was about $3000. At three years I am just about reached the payback, but I drive a lot; I'm already at about 91,000 miles. As others have said, it depends on the price of gasoline and how many miles a year you drive. One other thing it depends on - what do you compare it too. In my case, I'm not comparing it to a non-hybrid Escape, but to the car I would have otherwise purchased, a Toyota RAV4, which gets about 25 mpg. IIRC, the non-hybrid Escape gets about 23 mpg, so the payback would have actually been a little sooner, compared to that.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

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Forming opinions as we speak

\Haley Joel Osment mode\
I see merged threads

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Excellent point. I hope to be in the market soon for a second vehicle to use as an everyday car.
I'm currently leaning to a high milage sub-compact. Nothing in the Hybrid market can really fairly compare to that.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

My father sent me an interesting article the other day on the payback periods of hybrid cars. Specifically, the study included the time value of money, the premium paid for the hybrid version vice the non-hybrid version (or closest fascimile), differences in repair costs, battery replacement, etc.

Do you know if the analysis factored in the price of insurance, tags, etc to account for the higher price of a hybrid? I don't know about other places but here in Colorado, we pay sales tax on cars. We also have to pay a "use tax" every year when we buy our tags which is like a sales tax on the value of the car. A more expensive vehicle will mean more expensive tags and a higher sales tax. Insurance companies tend to charge more to cover more expensive vehicles as well. I think we need to factor in those extra expenses when comparing the price of a hybrid verses conventional version of a vehicle. Those extra expenses will make the payback period even longer.

When the time comes to replace my current vehicle, I'll give hybrids a closer look. Until then, I'll have to stick with my 25-28 MPG (in town) 2001 Honda CR/V "Gutless Wonder".

Funny you living in CO, as my father lives in the Springs!

I'll e-mail him and get back with you.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

I am human. Fully human.

If you're going to do that, you also should take into account the federal tax credit for hybrids (I believe it is still good for all of them except the Prius). And in some states, hybrids are allowed to drive in the HOV/car-pool lanes, even with only one passenger (no cost savings, but might help the commute time).

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Yes, I agree that tax credits should be considered in the evaluation. I don't believe the credits should be continued but that's a topic for another thread.

How are the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon so far apart when they are the same truck rebadged?

Or were they doing a Yukon XL (which is a rebadged Chevy Suburban)?

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

Ok, Larry Jacks - this just in: "Edumund's calculations focused on the cars' sticker prices - comparing the amount paid for a hybrid model over a gas-engine version of the same model, if available. Then analysts factored in rebate offers on the vehicles, the gas milage in both city and highway drive and, of course, the price of fuel, which averages $4.02 a gallon, according to the latest AAA figures. Also included in the claculations were federal tax credits, which can reach up to $3,000. The calculations do not account for differences in costs for repairs and replacement parts, for example, nor do they factor in varying costs to insure vehicles."

Thus, any vehicle with a payback period longer than the useful life of the car (barring major repairs) is probably a bad deal.

Thus, all things considered, the Toyota Prius does it almost twice as better as the Honda hybrid, and if I absolutely had to have a small SUV, I'd go with the Ford Escape; if I had to have a big SUV, I'd go with the Yukon.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

I am human. Fully human.

Thanks for the info. I'd next like someone to do a total cost of ownership analysis over a period of say 6 years and 72,000 miles. Use a fixed price of gas (there's no way to predict what it'll cost over that timeframe), add in projected maintenance costs, insurance costs (pick a particular geographic area), taxes, and the like. This time frame would allow for things like tire replacement (I've read some hybrids use special tires that can get pricey) and the like.

You might check at the website hybridcars.com, there is a lot of info there about hybrids, but I don't know of such a study (and I'm not going to do it, sorry).

We're a two hybrid household (Civic and the Escape) and neither takes special tires (I've never heard that either about any, except maybe the weird little Insight). The only special thing is that Honda recommends a slightly more expensive synthetic grade oil.

The one potential maintenance thing I know of is battery pack replacement. IIRC, most of the automakers are warrantying them for 100,000 miles, and from what I've heard, there have been fewer replacements than were imagined. Neither of our cars have given any indication of problems.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)