How many plan on purchasing a Hyrid vechile when you get your next car?

Question

I do.

Answer 1

What is a "vechile"?

Answer 2

I definetly plan on getting one. I want to do my part and besides, I wont have to send a fortune on gas.

Answer 3

I bought a Prius in February and hope to buy an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid by the time I need to replace it.  I want to address some misconceptions of P Diggity above me, too.

1) Not true.  Hybrid batteries are not large, and my Prius has more cargo space than most sedans.  With the back seats down I can fit 2 bicycles inside.  With my previous cars ('87 Sentra and '95 Altima) I had maybe half the cargo room of my Prius, tops.

2) The batteries have a WARRANTY of 10 years, not a 10 year lifespan.  Priuses used as taxis have 200,000+ miles on the original batteries.

3) Hybrid batteries are fully recycleable:

"Toyota has a comprehensive battery recycling program in place and has been recycling nickel-metal hydride batteries since the RAV4 Electric Vehicle was introduced in 1998. Every part of the battery, from the precious metals to the plastic, plates, steel case and the wiring, is recycled. To ensure that batteries come back to Toyota, each battery has a phone number on it to call for recycling information and dealers are paid a $200 "bounty" for each battery."

http://www.toyota.com/about/environment/...

4) There is no impact in the recycling process and little in the manufacturing process of NiMh batteries.  Besides which, hybrid batteries will soon be lithium ion.

5) The energy to build a hybrid is slightly more than the energy to build a conventional vehicle, but this is negligible over the lifetime of the car:

The MIT study, “On the Road in 2020,” reported on a comprehensive energy life-cycle analysis and found that 80% to 90% of all energy was used in the operation stage; 7% to 12% in the materials production stage, and the remainder in vehicle assembly, distribution, and disposal.

http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_...

6) Hybrids cost $20-30,000, not $30-40,000.  There are plenty of options - Prius, Civic, Camry, Altima, SUVs, etc.

7) If the battery dies (which it won't as it's designed to last the lifetime of the car and several have gone over 200,000 miles as mentioned above), the cost of a replacement is slightly less than $3000, not $10,000.  If you replace the battery, resale value will go way up.

Answer 4

www.teslamotors.com

I want one of the roadsters it's all electric and charing it via wind or solar is perfect. It's fast and quiet. Too bad it's $100k.

I did plan on my next car being a 2008 Highlander Hybrid 4WD-i because it drives so well and all but I think I'm gonna get a 2008 RAV4 V6 AWD. The Highlander might be the hybrid rated at 27-25 but people are saying it's more like 17-25 and the 4WD RAV4 gets 19-26. I think it's green enough considering I need the towing and hauling capacity. I'm only getting like 19-21 in my 4 banger tracker right now, peice of suzuki junk.

Answer 5

I seriously thought about it for my recent purchase of a vehicle.  (The new Altima Hybrid is a nice ride...)

here's some things i thought about:

1. The hybrid batteries take up a LOT of otherwise usable cargo room to the conventional fuel model.

2. The batteries have a limited life-span (about 10 years)

3. The first hybrids were first sold in the US about 8 years ago....this means that we haven't yet seen a full lifecycle of these batteries...what do we do with them after they are used up.  can they be recycled? many say they can...but there is *NO* infrastructure for this to be done on any sort of reasonable scale that would be needed to make widespread use of hybrids responsible.

4. Nickel-Lead Acid batteries contain two of the most noxious chemicals to the human system. what is the long-term impact of manufacturing, and disposal/recycling of these materials

5. These batteries are incredibly high tech.  although the end-use emissions of the vehicles are low, the production energy needed to make them is enormously higher than the conventional fuel alternative.

6. limited availabilty and high cost of the hybrids means you can get exactly what you want in a car. (unless you are already looking at the same model in conventional fuel...i was not...i was more interested in a different car, so buying a hybrid would have meant settling for a car that wasn't really what i was hoping for...) this is no small point. 30,000 or 40,000 is a lot to spend on something thats not quite what you want.

7. costs...warranty runs out after so many miles....and battery replacement after that time comes out of your pocket, (up to $10,000) or you try to sell your car....but resale value tanks because who wants to buy a hybrid with batteries that don't work anymore?

those were the things i thought about....and it ended up with me buying a traditional fuel vehicle.  i will likely buy a more fuel efficient/alternative fuel vehicle in the future, but only after i am convinced that the infrastructure and long-term viability are in place.

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Note to dana:

several of the facts i'm stating are specific to the vehicle i was considering (altima hybrid - i had no desire to purchase a civic, prius, camry, accord, ect...the altima was the only attractive option for me....this is a critical aspect of buying a car...i'm not going to buy something i don't like)

furthermore, the price figures i'm quoting are in canadian dollars...the many of the hybrids here are 30-40,000.  some can be had for cheaper, again, not the type i would have been considering.

additionally, buying a hybdrid based on the future availability of Lithium Ion batteries is just silly....i'm considering what is available now.  not to mention the hazardous waste from the as-yet unproven lithium ion batteries.