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I see that it's still more expensive to go green than to bite the gas-price bullet. Still, 100mpg is a good marketing angle for them. Let's look at it this wa

I see that it's still more expensive to go green than to bite the gas-price bullet. Still, 100mpg is a good marketing angle for them. Let's look at it this way: Assume average person drives 1000 miles/month Assume gas costs $4/gallon Assume Prius gets 100mpg, and other cars get 20mpg A Prius driver with the conversion kit spends $40/month on gas. A typical car driver spends $200/month on gas. A prius driver saves $160 per month for driving the prius. It will take 5.2 years to re-earn the $10,000 upgrade. This does not include the price for a prius, which I was surprised to find has come down quite a bit. A 2008 prius base model costs $21,100.

Alex3917 19y ago
What if you factor in the cost of carbon?
- dkokelley 19y ago
  Please explain. Are you referring to the environmental, intangible "cost" of carbon emissions, or maybe the cost of cleaning them from the environment? What is the cost of carbon? (To be clear, I was trying to evaluate the 2 cars economically, without the consideration of carbon footprint or other moral duty to the environment to get in the way of the calculations.)
  - Alex3917 19y ago
    I meant the expected cost of carbon once a cap-and-trade system is implemented. All three candidates favor putting such a system in place, so there is something like a 90% chance of getting this legislation enacted sometime within the next 24 months. McCain's bill actually is expected to go up for a vote the week of June 2nd. The calculation should ideally take into account the fact that most people would charge their cars at night when electricity is cheaper and a greater percentage of the mix comes from renewable sources (because of wind power).
    - dkokelley 19y ago
      Ok I get it now. I actually have no idea what a the cost of such a system will be, because I hadn't heard much about the legislation you mentioned. I assume that once something like that passes, it will help move more people to electric vehicles. Personally, I'm saving for the Tesla Roadster (http://www.teslamotors.com/ http://www.teslamotors.com/).
ssharp 19y ago
This is true to a point. The cost of hybrids needs to come down (or reintroduce tax rebates for Toyota with plug-ins in two years) for hybrids to hit a faster break-even point than 5 years unless gas skyrockets to $5-6 / gallon. A good portion of current of the hybrid market doesn't really care about breaking even or saving that much on gas - they're more concerned with the social factors - reducing pollution and dependence on foreign oil. In order to really push the rest of American towards alternative-fuel or electric vehicles, the cost is going to have to come down.

Alex3917 19y ago

What if you factor in the cost of carbon?

dkokelley 19y ago
Please explain. Are you referring to the environmental, intangible "cost" of carbon emissions, or maybe the cost of cleaning them from the environment? What is the cost of carbon? (To be clear, I was trying to evaluate the 2 cars economically, without the consideration of carbon footprint or other moral duty to the environment to get in the way of the calculations.)
- Alex3917 19y ago
  I meant the expected cost of carbon once a cap-and-trade system is implemented. All three candidates favor putting such a system in place, so there is something like a 90% chance of getting this legislation enacted sometime within the next 24 months. McCain's bill actually is expected to go up for a vote the week of June 2nd. The calculation should ideally take into account the fact that most people would charge their cars at night when electricity is cheaper and a greater percentage of the mix comes from renewable sources (because of wind power).
  - dkokelley 19y ago
    Ok I get it now. I actually have no idea what a the cost of such a system will be, because I hadn't heard much about the legislation you mentioned. I assume that once something like that passes, it will help move more people to electric vehicles. Personally, I'm saving for the Tesla Roadster (http://www.teslamotors.com/ http://www.teslamotors.com/).

ssharp 19y ago

This is true to a point. The cost of hybrids needs to come down (or reintroduce tax rebates for Toyota with plug-ins in two years) for hybrids to hit a faster break-even point than 5 years unless gas skyrockets to $5-6 / gallon. A good portion of current of the hybrid market doesn't really care about breaking even or saving that much on gas - they're more concerned with the social factors - reducing pollution and dependence on foreign oil. In order to really push the rest of American towards alternative-fuel or electric vehicles, the cost is going to have to come down.