Hybrid Cars Pay Off in the Long Run

by Mary

The LA Times reports that a new study on hybrid cars find that they have higher total cost of ownership value than other comparable cars in the same class.

"Across the board, we found that all 22 hybrid vehicles have a better total cost of ownership over five years or 70,000 miles than the vehicles they directly compete against," said James Bell, Intellichoice.com's publisher.

Prius owners get the best value as the new study shows they can save more than $13K over other comparable non-hybrid cars over a 5 year period. The study used a gasoline price of $2.26 over the five years.

Another interesting point in this piece was that even cars and trucks known as mild hybrids are a better buy in their class. What is a mild hybrid?

A mild hybrid is one that doesn't have an electric drive system to augment the internal combustion engine. Instead, it uses its electric power to enable the conventional engine to shut down when the vehicle normally would be idling.

Not only does this improve their gas mileage, it also reduces their emission output which certainly helps get their ratings up. I'm glad to see that hybrid techology is being picked up by more car manufacturers as this is a major part of reducing our dependence on oil.