Giving Hybrids A Real Jolt
Business Week (4/11/04 issue) jumps on the plug & play Prius bandwagon
How wonderful it is to save gas
But the math is missing: "...not clear how much more people will pay for the cars. Hybrids are estimated to cost $2,000 to $5,000 more than conventional cars to make, and the larger batteries for plug-ins would add several thousands dollars more."
simpleton math (mine):
6K cost above non hybrid ... just to pull numbers together
Gas at $2.50
Need 2.4K gallons to breakeven
Avg stock Prius milage - assume 42.5MPG
Tells me in only 102K miles I'm at breakeven
Shift to $3gas and it's 85K miles
Now this analysis does not include the electricity costs
It ain't free.
What happens to electric costs as fuel costs rise, assuming that as oil prices rise, utilities will be able to pass along "cost increases" (whether they use oil or not).
Did anybody ask about battery replacement/recycling costs?
More analysis needs to be done.
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