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Just One Out of 16 Hybrids Pays Back In Gas Savings
thecarchik writes with this snippet from GreenCarReports:
"One of the criticisms of hybrid cars has historically been that there's no payback, especially given the cheap gasoline prices in the US. The extra money you spend on a hybrid isn't returned in gas savings, say critics. Well, that may be true, especially when regular gasoline is averaging $2.77 a gallon this week. But as we often point out, most people don't buy hybrids for payback — they buy them to make a statement about wanting to drive green. Nevertheless, a Canadian study has now looked at the question of hybrid payback in a country whose gasoline is more expensive than ours (roughly $3.70 per gallon this week), with surprising results. The British Columbia Automobile Association projected the fuel costs of 16 hybrids over five years against their purchase price and financing fees. In a study released in late July, only a single one of the 16 hybrids cost less to buy and run than its gasoline counterpart."
The one car that would save you money, according the study, is the Mercedes S400 Hybrid sedan — and it will only cost you $105,000.
For all the biker-putty on the roads, the mortality stats I've seen show that even casual bikers have longer life expectancies, since the odds of getting roadkilled are so much lower than the odds of being killed by heart disease.
There are safer ways to lower your risk of heart disease than riding a bicycle on a busy urban roadway. My good friend Pete was killed last May when a car hit him while crossing an intersection. The car driver was probably driving towards the setting sun with the sunlight shining in his eyes and never saw Pete on his bicycle. Pete used to tell me how much better he felt from the exercise. I now have a different perspective about the health benefits.
I'm all for bicycling. I'm all for exercise. I'm all for reducing unnecessary use of fossil fuels whenever possible. And I'm not particularly in love with automobiles. But driving in urban traffic on a bicycle leaves you vulnerable and seriously under-protected no matter how much safety gear you use.
I gave up riding my motorcycle on the street many years ago when an older woman rear-ended me when I was stopped at a traffic light. I had no idea she was coming up on me until she knocked me to the ground and into the middle of the intersection. Luckily I was able to get up, brush off and get out of the intersection before getting hit by traffic. The woman who hit me apologized, saying she never saw me. Apparently I was not large enough of a target to register in her field of vision.
As a result my advice to riders of bicycles and motorcycles has been this: Do it off-road or only on lightly used, well-lit, straight, non-urban roadways with few intersections if you wish to avoid being killed or injured.