Hybrid Hysteria

For something like 40,000 miles now I have been thinking about buying a new car. Every now and then I think that my next car ought to be a hybrid. Usually though I remember that at the moment there really aren't any hybrid pickup trucks and the idea goes away.

For the next model year there will be a hybrid SUV. There is a version of the Ford Escape that will be offered as a hybrid. I heard someone talking about this on the radio tonight ("The Allegheny Front" went to the Pittsburgh Auto Show) and so my ears perked up. Mostly it seemed like they were explaining why you might not want to buy a hybrid now.

They were awfully excited to point out that the new Accord hybrid only manages 7 MPG better than the straight gasoline model. The guy they were talking to on the show floor didn't think that might be worth the investment and wondered rhetorically how many miles you would have to drive to make up the $4000 price difference. Making some estimates about mileage I came up with a figure:

225,500 miles.

So you are going to have to own your hybrid for quite some time. Which lead to the next question. The new Prius has six batteries, each about the size of a loaf of bread. This lead one show vistor to start thinking about maintenance costs. The Toyota rep explained that it wasn't really a problem because the batteries were warranted to 8 years or 100,000 miles.

But what is you had to drive, say, 225,500 miles?

Turns out that outside the period of the coverage each battery currently costs $7,000 to replace. I don't know what this thing lists for, but if it has $42,000 worth of batteries in it, I probably can't afford it.

The rep was quick to point out that that was the current price, and that by the time the 8 years were up the cost would have certainly come down.

Anyone remember what they told us about CDs when they came out at $15/disk?

So this thing you are going to have to drive right into your grave is also going to cost you a few bucks. Still, it will use less gas overall and is probably better for the environment (if you don't think about where all those dead batteries are going to wind up). Maybe there should be some help, some incentive to buy a hybrid?

It turns out that there is an incentive. You can get a $2,000 tax deduction for buying a clean running vehicle. However, you have to hurry, because in a way I am sure makes sense to them, congress has cut off that deduction as of the end of 2005 - although it does exist in 2006 as a $500 write off. Somehow I don't think they are taking the hybrid idea too seriously in Washington.

All of this made me come up with what I believe is a sure fire business opportunity. I am going to start selling little plastic signs and little vinyl graphics that say "Hybrid." People I think will jump at the chance to have all that social cashe without having to part with all of their own cash.