[Vermilion Villager]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Interesting question. Would a hybrid car be your best option? Boiling it down to dollars and cents it might seem so at first glance. It costs about half as much for gasoline to run a hybrid than a regular car (according to Walletburst dot com, $2,376.00 per year for an all-gas vehicle vs. $1,188.00 per year for a hybrid based on an estimated 13,500 miles driven per year), and while that is significant it doesn't even come close to covering the whole ball of wax. Examples:

1. The fuel savings for hybrids come from electricity generated by the gasoline engine as well as by non-gas - related actions such as regenerative braking, coasting, etc., which is then used to power the vehicle in place of gasoline. In non - plug-in hybrids those are the only sources of electricity. The gasoline engine only kicks in when the battery descends to a point of charge (10%?), but if most of your trips are, say, the two-mile trip-to-Publix variety then your battery is going to be used most often when it is on the lower end of charge, and this is hard on the battery. According to hybridautomotive dot com, "Maintaining proper battery life begins with using the battery. To help the battery “remember” its capacity, it is best to regularly drain the battery and then recharge it to full capacity." In other words if you're going to run your car with a consistently low battery your battery will die a lot quicker than it otherwise would.

2. You can, of course, get a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) and keeping the battery topped off via an outlet in your garage. But that electricity isn't free.

3. Hybrids are costlier to insure than all-gas cars: something like 10% or so per year more. The website didn't explain why.

4. Maintenance on hybrids costs more, often a lot more. even ignoring the costliest single item--replacing the battery in a hybrid, which is a notorious dollar-eater--it stands to reason that the hybrid is going to cost more for upkeep because you're essentially maintaining TWO power plants (electric motor and gasoline engine), not just one.

5. If all of your eggs are kept in one basket (i.e. a hybrid car) what happens when it needs maintenance? Depending on the length of time needed to do the repair(s) you could be without wheels for a long time.

My preferred choice of action? Get the hybrid as well as a reasonably-priced used gas powered golf cart for use when the hybrid for whatever reason isn't available. Golf cart operating expenses are very low compared to just about any automobile--we gas up ours maybe twice a month, totalling maybe $35.00, and use it probably 90% of the time. Maintenance costs are also comparatively low. Plus, anyone who knows a box-end wrench from a hacksaw can do all of the routine maintenance needed for a golf cart, plus even some major repairs if ever needed.

Lithium ion batteries do not have a "memory" and driving 2 miles versus 60 miles has no effect on the battery at all. If that was the case the battery in your cordless drill would die after about two weeks. I have a 2004 Toyota Prius with 635,000 miles on it and it still has the original lithium ion battery. You then make this assumption even though you admit you don't know that maintenance on a lithium powered vehicle is more expensive than gas. Then explain why the villages car golf cart annual maintenance for a lithium powered golf cart is roughly half of the price of the gas powered golf cart?