What are the drawbacks to hybrid cars, if any?

Question

I heard it cost alot of money to recharge their batteries.

Answer 1

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Hybrids initial costs are expensive. The gas savings as of yet, will never be recouped as a result. In other words, the price you pay for the car (avg. $24,000)+ the cost of fuel ($700/yr) is = to or or greater than the cost of a non-hybrid economy car (avg. $15,000)+ gas ($1000/yr).

Batteries are maintenance free so they never need recharging. The gas engine along with a regenerative braking system recharge the battery during use.

So, the cost of these cars are the only real con as of yet that I am aware of.

Hybrids offer savings at the pump, very generous warranties from the maker, tax breaks from the IRS in some states, insurance premium discounts in some states, and environmental consideration, just to name a few pros.

In time those costs will come down so that we all can go green.

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Answer 2

Really the only drawback is the initial cost.  However, you make up that initial cost in gas savings in about 5-10 years, depending on how much you drive.

It doesn't cost anything to recharge the batteries.  The batteries are recharged automatically while you drive by the regenerative breaking, by the internal combustion engine, or by the electric engine running backwards if you're going downhill.

The batteries last the life of the car, so you don't have to worry about replacing them.  The warranty covers them for 8-10 years and no Prius has had its batteries replaced due to age since they began selling them around the year 2000.  Some Priuses have been used as taxis and have 250,000 miles on them on the original batteries.

They get great gas mileage, have very low emissions, and are great cars overall.

Answer 3

Cost!  It will take 10 years to make up the difference, and that alone will buy a lot of fuel.  

If you're looking to "go green," wait until next year, or maybe the year after, and you'll see many more diesel options in American cars.  Diesel represents about 51% of the cars in Europe.  They get great fuel economy and burn really clean, now that the US has mandated low-sulfer fuel.  I'm betting that diesel will put the hybrids out of business.  Toyota has made a mistake betting on hybrids, while everyone else is gearing up for diesel.

Answer 4

Well the only drawback to a hybrid vehicle is that they still run on gasoline, it just uses less of it.  As for the batteries, I don't think you have to pay to charge them.  The way they charge is with the brakes.  Whenever you use the brakes it creates a small charge that charges the batteries.  I'm not sure if all hybrids use the brake charging system, but I know that the Prius does.

Intially hybrids are more expensive than their gas guzzling brothers, but it well than makes up for it in gas money.  Also if you have the money, you can convert a hybrid into a plug-in hybrid which increases the fuel economy of a Prius to 100 MPG (500 MPG when fueled with biodiesel).  Money shouldn't bother you when buying a hybrid, you're doing something that'll help offset global warming (slow it down really), so paying the extra $5000 is worth it in my opinion.

Answer 5

the prius is about 23,000 which is a lot for a car of that size and quality.

i hear the gas money you save makes up for it though.

if you want to save gas money but don't want to spend all the money on a hybrid, i would suggest the honda fit. it has excellent gas mileage, is VERY fast, looks similar to a prius, and is 16,000.