Hybrid Car Incentives

Wall Street Journal reports that incentives to buy hybrids are dwindling due to reductions in tax credits and falling gas prices. As they put it – “it’s getting a lot more expensive to be an environmentally conscious driver.”

The cost justification is not there – “let’s say you buy a Honda Civic, which gets 42 mpg and currently has a $525 credit. Assume you drive 15,000 miles a year with gas prices at $2.91 a gallon. The Civic hybrid’s price is some $4,000 higher than a gas-engine Civic, meaning it would take nearly 10 years to recoup the premium in gas savings, according to an Edmunds analysis.

Without the $525 credit, the payback period would be about a year longer, according to Edmunds. With the full $2,100 credit, the payback period would have been only six years.”

Bring on the SUV era again?

In the long run, gas prices will go up and we will be in the same energy problem scenario again.

Related posts:

1. Hybrid Car Mileage Tips
2. Gas-Guzzler Trade-In Calculator
3. Toyota Prius Hybrid vs Toyota Camry – Payoff time for Hybrid vs Gas Cars
4. Green Car Quest using Turbochargers
5. Mortgage Incentives for Energy Efficiency

Posted on November 10th, 2008
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