Cost "break even" point for Hybrids
 

In short, at least $7/gal gas to break even on what is typically a 17% price premium for a hybrid. Oh, but the eco-warm and fuzziness is priceless, right?

http://www.freep.com/article/2011031...433/1014/rss13

Some vehicles are much better than others though. Interesting bit of info...

I'd like to see the actual article. You know that the luxury hybrids are going to skew that data fairly quickly unless it's based on actual sales, not just the number of models (ie, 500K annual sales of hybrids rather than 43 models). That said, low-cost hybrids are usually very reasonable (Escape is a great example) in terms of the number of years it takes to achieve payback. It's the high-cost ones that really make very little sense.

Yeah, i couldn't find the original article.

imo, most people who talk about break-even points or actual values of hybrids are not looking at the full picture. they generally just point out the price difference between the hybrid and conventional versions and figure out the number of miles or price of gas it would take to recoup that difference. reality is that what matter is not so much the purchasing price difference of the 2 cars, but the difference of the depreciation values of the 2 cars over the average numbers of years of ownership. assuming the average years of ownership for cars is 5 years, then if ,by the end of the 5 years, the hybrid and conventional versions have depreciated by the same amount, then the actual cost of ownership of the 2 cars are the same, and the cost of fuels savings will start at day 1. generally, only when the hybrid depreciates more than the conventional will there be a break-even point for owning a hybrid. of course things are not exactly that simple either. there is a cost of spending an extra $3000, for example, on a hybrid. assuming the cars were purchased in full with cash, that extra $3000 could be invested for a monetary return (or loss). with a safe investment at a generous 5% return, a $3000 investment will yield about $150 a year, or $750 over 5 years, which really isn't much. also, 1 needs to factor in savings from tax deduction for purchasing a hybrid (if applicable), as well as any differences in costs of insurance and registration for the 2 cars over 5 years and the differences in maintenance and repair costs for the 2 cars over 5 years, etc. i don't know exactly how the article came up with its numbers, but the way i see it, i think most projected numbers of break-even points for hybrids are higher than what they actually are, if there is indeed a bread-even point to begin with.

Basically this article means absolutely nothing without an explanation of how they came to their numbers.

I can make numbers up too.

:iagree:

Previously with the federal tax credits it made much more sense to purchase a hybrid vehicle, as you got thousands in federal tax credits, & that was never added into the equations, but since Jan 1, 2011...no more tax credits :cry: But as others have pointed out that there is a lot more that goes into determining valuation than what the OP has stated.

My guess is that the margins are lower for the prius (as an example) than for a camry. So right now there is a 17% premium to get a hybrid, but if Toyota had their way and attached normal margins to the prius it would probably be a 25% premium. Not that I like the Prius, but it seems like a lot of vehicle for the money. My question is do they sell a lot of hybrids in Europe or do people there just buy small diesels and get 50mpg?

I'm curious to know "the miles driven per year" that they used to come up with these figures.

A traveling salesman would recoup their costs much sooner then someone who only drives 15-30 miles everyday for work or something along those lines.

I wonder when is the break even point for buying a car with leather, nav, engine, suspension, wheels upgrades? Oh, never. Not one penny.

Let people buy what they want. Just like if people complaining about why buy a roadster, when there is only two seats when you can buy a car with five seats?