Honda Insight

Honda Insight

All this new technology comes at a price: a hybrid car is complex and expensive. It has two motors and all the ancillary systems to manage them plus a heavy battery and a regeneration system used to produce electricity during breaking. 

All of these systems must work together, adding complexity. While cars and, just as importantly, the computers that control them, have become more reliable, they still suffer from failures. So owners of hybrids can expect more time in the shop and larger repair bills.

Hybrids are the most gasoline efficient of all cars - they typically get 48 to 60 mpg (claimed). Not bad, but only about 20% to 35% better than a fuel efficient gasoline powered vehicle - like the Honda Civic, for example, that gets 36 mpg. But, when comparing prices - hybrids cost from $19,000 to $25,000 and gas saver cars cost $14,000 to $17,000 - the justification to buy becomes less clear.

Indeed, the difference in average annual fuel bills - $405 for a Honda Insight versus $635 for a Honda Civic - means you may never recoup the added initial cost of a hybrid. Over a ten year period owning a hybrid will save you only $2,300 - less than the cost difference for comparably equipped cars.

Much of the fuel efficiency comes from improvements in aero dynamics, weight reduction and, the biggest change: a smaller, less powerful gas engine. In fact, any car will get substantially better mileage just by reducing the engine size. The main reason this is not done has to do customer demand - they want the extra power and zippiness.

Divers find that real mileage from hybrids is actually about 10% less than claimed. When consulting manufactures web pages for mileage tips, they list the same ones that would give better fuel economy from any car: drive slow, no jack rabbit starts, etc...

But hybrid cars offer more than just great fuel economy, they offer many green advantages as well. Even a small increase in fuel economy makes a large difference in emissions over the life of the car. Also, in large cities were pollution is at its worst, they make an even larger difference since they produce very little emissions during low speed city driving and the inevitable traffic jams.

While the US has just started producing hybrids, the Japanese are the recognized leaders. Honda and Toyota are the two largest producers with the Insight and Prius. US car makers are well behind. In fact, during recent introduction of a new hybrid by GM - the Mercury Mariner, they admitted they had to license over 20 separate technologies from the Japanese. US car makers still specialize in SUVs and trucks - Ford has even introduced a hybrid version of its popular Escape SUV.

Industry analysts say US hybrids are just token models - not a serious attempt to get into the market. The reason for hybrid introduction has to do with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. Current standards mandate that average mileage of the fleet of cars sold by an automaker should be 27.5 mpg. This means that if an automaker sells one hybrid car that gets 60 mpg, it can then sell four less efficient cars - like SUVs and trucks - that only get 20 mpg.