With Higher Gas Prices, Should You Consider Buying a Hybrid or EV?

Edmunds.com

With Higher Gas Prices, Should You Consider Buying a Hybrid or EV?

Has talk of $5-per-gallon gas got you thinking about buying a hybrid or electric car? Indeed, the economics improve for hybrids and EVs improve with higher gas prices, but the payoff still may not be there.

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vinitasher

Does this calculation consider the higher cost of insurance and maintenance of hybrids/EVs?

edwardellyatt

I take issue with comparing the Volt with the Cruze. A luxury electric car compared to an econobox just doesn't equate. The Volt handles like a BMW-3 series, rides like a Lexus, and is as silent inside as a Rolls-Royce. Would I pay $40,000 for a Cruze? Certainly not. Is my 2011 Volt #1506 worth $42,500 yes every penny. It is a blast to drive and takes me 40 miles without gas and yes for me it is 40 miles. After the first 40 miles my engine generator comes on and I get 38 MPG on gas. I have averaged 108 miles per gallon lifetime in 25000 miles. Did I buy this car just based on the numbers? No if the US does not stop importing oil we will be a third world country. We are in the middle of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world and we are on the losing end. Why must our young men and women fight and die in the middle east to insure the flow of oil? Readers you can make a difference by using less petroleum. The Volt is a great choice with no compromise: No gas usage at all on most daily drives, Gas generator for drives you need to go further. Doing your part to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? Priceless.

edwardellyatt

I have also found that for me the cost of insurance is the same. No difference. Edward Ellyatt

jeffvolt

What a completely flawed study based on nonsense.

You've gamed the whole thing by cam paring what ever cars you like to compare.

Why not compare the $40K Chevy Volt with a $40K gas car like a BMW?

I have both. A series 3 BMW and a Chevy Volt. I like driving the Volt more as it is way more fun to drive.

I have used only 23.5 gallons driving my Chevy Volt 13,800 miles in 14 months. I drive my Volt 98% of the time on my home's cheap domestically made electricity instead of gasoline made from foreign oil.

The positive impact on society by reducing my need for foreign oil and not polluting as a gas car by driving my Volt is huge.

The price of something is not it's value.

You people need a deeper understanding of how plug-in electric cars are used by their owners.

We don't buy gasoline. We don't care about gas prices. We don't want to be slaves to gas prices anymore.

So much for your bean-counter analysis.

mbepic

This is a laugh......once again they compare the Volt to a Cruze; why not a Cadillac at $40,000. Have they calculated type of driving where you drive 35miles each day, where you don't even look at a gas pump.......that is my current experience, the past 2.5mths.

carlitos7

This article's numbers are quite off because it is not counting a serious factor in the "break even" story, and that is maintenance costs which is usually the scariest part of owning a car, not gas price. The latter is at least predictable, but we all know what happens when you visit a mechanic shop...

The article totally ignores that, and therefore is suggesting that a Nissan Leaf for example will require the same amount of money to maintain as its gasoline counterpart, and that is of course plain wrong.

To even an average person who is not mechanic/electric/car savvy, it should be obvious that an EV cuts down seriously on the maintenance costs. Let's see, what breaks most in a car? and what requires regular maintenance in a gas car? Oil, Oil filter, Air filter, Belts, Spark plugs, Battery fluids, Exhaust system (emission tests), and almost every single part of the mechanical engine and of course, the big fat costly transmission and its friends. An EV car does not have any of those, it does not need any of them. It only has a battery pack (proven and warranted to work for at least 10 years), a converter to switch DC to AC power that goes into a melon sized electric engine which does not need a transmission.

Electric motors have been around for decades not years, and they are heavily used for heavy duty tasks in almost all industries, unlike gasoline engines, they do not have many parts to break anyways, so either they work or they don't in case of a manufacturing defect that usually shows up during the first month of usage.

So no, the economic equation is neither iffy nor controversial. but it is indeed constantly changing in favor of EV.

I think as of today, where we have excellent EV vehicles like the Tesla Model S, the Nissan Leaf and the Toyota EV RAV4. it is stupid to drive a gasoline car if living in or in a vicinity of a city.