Why fuel-efficient cars are important

Replacing a vehicle with a fuel efficient model has the biggest aggregate potential reduction in green house gas emissions at 31.4 millions of metric tons of carbon a year. Even more than Weatherizing a home (21.2), buying energy efficient appliances (11.7), or carpooling (6.5).

Look how much gas costs in China, they’re using more and more every day, increasing worldwide demand, and hence pushing prices up.

GM eAssist hybrid automobile Technology

GM has learned from its lackluster hybrid car efforts and is now coming out with new hybrid technology that promises to boost fuel economy by 25% while maintaining the price of the automobile. The next generation Buick Lacrosse Sedan is the first car to implement this eASSIST mild hybrid system in the vehicles base package. The $30K 2012 Buick Lacrosse full-size sedan will achieve 36 miles per gallon on the highway, 25 miles per gallon in the city. This card includes a 15 kW belt driven, liquid cooled motor generator unit that recharges when you use the brakes. The battery pack is expected to have a life of 10+ years.

Hybrid technology like this needs to become standard in order for carmakers like GM to meet new CAFE fuel economy standards. By 2016, national fleets must achieve an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.

Ford Turbocharged Automobiles with Eco Boost

Ford is starting to sell vehicles with their EcoBoost Engine. EcoBoost consists of smaller displacement engines with direct fuel injection and turbocharging to provide a fuel economy boost without any loss of performance. It uses turbochargers to take exhaust energy — normally wasted — and channel it back into the engine for more power.  The first cars use it to make a V-6 have the power of a V-8.  In the future it will be used on lower end cars to raise efficiency. EcoBoost is projected to feature in 90% of Ford Motor Company’s lineup by 2013.

“Compared with the current cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, customers can expect to recoup their initial investment in a 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine through fuel savings in approximately 30 months. A diesel will take an average of seven and one-half years, while the cost of a hybrid will take nearly 12 years to recoup – given equivalent miles driven per year and fuel costs,”

Redesigning a Car for Better Gas Mileage

The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu due in showrooms in early 2012 is an example of a car redesign to gain better mileage. Ase examples, rounded front corners reduce drag and add 0.4 mpg, active shutters below the grill cool the engine and add 0.3 mpg, and the lack of a spare tire  adds 0.4 mpg. The car will get five mpg more if you purchase the version with E-Assist electric acceleration technology. Look for other cars to incorporate these optimizations necessary due to higher CAFE mileage standards. By 2016 auto fleets need to average 35.5 mpg.

Gas is getting more expensive by the day. Everyone wants a fuel efficient car, but does it make economical sense? Obviously serious green oriented folks care more about the environment than financial considerations. When does it pay to buy a hybrid automobile is the question?

Replacing a vehicle with a fuel efficient model has the biggest aggregate potential reduction in green house gas emissions at 31.4 millions of metric tons of carbon a year. Even more than Weatherizing a home (21.2), buying energy efficient appliances (11.7), or carpooling (6.5).

How Quickly does a Hybrid Pay off?

Source: CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney.com has a nice analysis of how fast a hybrid pays off. They compared a buying a new $24,548 Toyota Prius Hybrid vs a conventional $19,635 Toyota Camry. The premium for the hybrid automobile is almost $5000.

You can see that it takes 4.5 years to break even with gas at $4, 6 years at $3. Some hard numbers that should help prevent you from paying a crazy markup for any hot new green hybrid or electric vehicle.

An edmunds.com article highlighted some payoff times for hybrid cars. Gas costs more now, so the times are shorter than listed. Toyota Prius (2.6), Nissan Altima (3.4), Mercury Mariner (4.4), GMC Yukon (4.9). There are some hybrids that don’t fare nearly as well from a cost trade-off standpoint, but may be attractive for other reasons: Toyota Highlander (12.7) and Lexus LS600h (102.6)

Kiplinger’s has a Green Car Calculator that compares two cars costs and 5 year overall costs of operation. Edmunds.com has a variety of hybrid car cost benefit analysis.

The Future of Hybrids

The car industry has started to understand this and closed the delta with mild hybrids costing far less.  They use much smaller batteries and hence cost far less.

Remember that it takes a LOT of energy to build a car, so it may be more green to keep what you have or buy a used fuel efficient vehicle. A hybrid still emits about 20 pounds of carbon with each gallon of gas you burn up.

Check out our hybrid driving tips.