DO HYBRID VEHICLES REALLY SAVE YOU MONEY?

I bought the first Hybrid Toyota in 2000 imported into California, a 2001 model I had waited, and waited for. My son loves it when I’m on the road and he gets to save money on gas by driving my Prius.

When I first bought it, I let everyone drive it, even strangers on the street who would stop and ask me about it. All were surprised by its power. For some reason most people assumed it would be slow to pick up speed and get up and go.

Others have asked me about savings vs. the heavier price tag and I couldn’t answer that, except to say, a hybrid puts less carbon in the air, and that benefit alone is worth it to me. Today, I borrow from GAS 2.0 blog to report these figures.

Industry analysts at Vincentric recently tested 25 popular, US-market hybrid models and compared them to equivalent ICE versions in an attempt to find out which hybrids (if any) deliver real savings over the life of the vehicle.

Surprisingly, 11 of the 25 hybrid models tested actually did save their owners money! Check out the top 10, below.

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1. Lincoln MKZ Hybrid (-$7,001)
2. Mercedes-Benz S Class Hybrid (-$4,242)
3. Lexus HS 250h (-$3,747)
4. Toyota Prius V (-$1,804)
5. Toyota Prius C (-$1,469)
6. Ford Fusion Hybrid (-$1,202)
7. Kia Optima Hybrid (-$779)
8. Porsche Cayenne Hybrid (-$672)
9. Honda Insight (-$656)
10. Hyundai Sonata Hybrid (-$319)

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Overall, Vincentric noted that the average cost to own and operate one of these hybrid vehicles was $1,223 more than their all-gasoline powered counterparts over 5 years. That figure was calculated assuming 15,000 miles of driving per year. Fuel prices used in this report were calculated using a weighted average over the previous five months. Vincentric’s own summary of their findings notes that “the range between the best and worst savings was significant, with the 2012 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid saving buyers $7,001 while the 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid cost buyers over $8,065 more to own (than comparably equipped conventional vehicles).”

So there you have it. And no one questions the power of hybrids after many years on the road of so many countries. Auto makers around the world have produced all-electric vehicles that manage over 100 miles in range per charge and hybrids that can get over 280 eMPG.

The electric vehicle is here to stay unless they come up with something better and cheaper.  And, car companies  are already working on it.

ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING-

Its true, we're rolling, rolling, rolling. We left friendly Palm Springs, the dates, the palms, the citrus fruit growing everywhere, the morning power walks, the many fun activities,  and are headed for Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails.

We left elevation 18 and climbed up over the pass in the San Bernadino National Forest with our highest point at 4808 feet.  Its high desert and the temperature here is friendlier than the heat wave bouncing into Palm Springs. My weather wimp says, "We left just in time!"

Its pretty country, and as usual, I get to enjoy the view out the window while Jim drives.

The air got noticeably cleaner as we got above the city smog.

In fact, on the way out of town I finally got a good picture of this sign that I had seen several times. It bugged me because I could never read the bottom address to find out what on earth is going on. Enlarging the picture gave me the address. Its a good site for men's health issues. It explains what tests are necessary for men; what studies you can refer to and so on. It kind of annoys me though that the US government has paid for these huge, giant billboards with the address on the bottom so small its unreadable from the road.  So, if you are interested, now you have it.
http://www.ahrq.gov/

Anyone who has read my blog knows I'm a sign freak. When we turned onto Pearblossom Hwy I had to do it. I mean, isn't that a pretty sounding name?  Maybe there's  a female highway engineer lurking in the office who gets a chance to choose a name. Avenue T. Aargh, how unmemorable.

We kicked back, enjoyed the cool, quiet, had dinner,then "Roseanne's Husband" did the dishes and clean-up.

ITS A CHEMICAL WORLD

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. The Environmental Protection Agency people,  who attempt to sort out all the nasty chemicals and approve or disapprove of them, weigh stuff like:
Should household cleaning products that we use on our clothing, counter tops, cars, driveways, have to reveal what chemicals are in the products we use?  No.
However, New York is the first state to require manufacturers to reveal them. Go New York!  It would be nice to have a clean and healthy home without risk from known problems for some people  like asthma and reproductive defects.

Or how about this one, should EPA allow researchers to dose people with poisonous pesticides and study the effects?  Can they pay people to drink, eat and enter vaporous chambers and see what happens? Apparently, yes. Yes? They even tested on pregnant women and children. Well, they've been sued and have to stop that awful practice.

California's San Joaquin Valley is the most polluted air basin in the United States. My son lives there. After multiple suits against the EPA, they've been forced to enforce the Clean Air Act requirements just this past June. 1,000 people each year die from air-pollution maladies. 

Well, the EPA did ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos from being used in homes and gardens. It's a World War II era chemical for warfare. It causes blurred vision, headaches, chest tightness, coughing, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, low birth weights. Studies have not been exhaustive.  But, 8 to 10 million pounds of the nerve gas pesticide is still used each year by farms across the country, infiltrating food and water supplies, endangering salmon along with diazinon,and malathion. I guess it depends on who we think should be endangered, home owners no, but farm workers yes. And, just those who inadvertently ingest the stuff in their food not knowing what they are eating. Salmon is supposed to be a healthy food choice.  I would like wild salmon to rebound in our rivers.

And the EPA is thinking about banning a highly toxic chemical used on pear orchards, potato, tomato and lettuce fields called Endosulfan because the stuff travels long distances, like the Arctic, Sierra Nevada lakes, Mount Everest. They find it in the air around schools and they know it causes reproductive deformities and it increases autism in exposed fetuses. That is, now that they are being sued they are thinking about banning it.

Truth be told, there are hundreds of thousands of chemicals awash on our food and products that have never been tested. Its even worse in other countries. The non profit organization, Earthjustice, is attempting to hold the  EPA to its standards of protection. Chemical deduction is kind of like reading a horror story. When I'm on the road, I don't worry about these things as much. But, they don't go away. A new nasty chemical pops up out of some manufacturing lab every year. Maybe every week.  And people wonder why breast cancer, birth defects, asthma and autism are on the rise.

I may be old fashioned but I think I should be able to breathe air not fouled by someone's chemicals. Isn't there an industrial code that says Do No Harm?  Apparently not. And isn't the EPA supposed to protect us, the consumers? Apparently not.

It may benefit you to know that Earthjustice, the non-profit group, is located at 426 Seventeenth St., Sixth Floor, Oakland, CA. 94612.