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Many Vehicles With Lower Energy Costs Than Hybrids

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by skruse, Apr 19, 2006.

  1. skruse

    skruse Senior Member

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    Alex Law of the Canadian Automotive Network offers food-for-thought regarding the cost per mile of operating a vehicle over the life of a vehicle. The article does not pay attention to air quality, sprawl, road construction and maintenance, accidents and other "externalities."

    http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/news,v...rtid=59574&pg=2

    Jeep TJ (Wrangler): $0.604
    Chevrolet Tracker: $0.694
    Toyota Echo: $0.703
    Saturn Ion: $0.709
    Hyundai Elantra: $0.723
    Dodge SX2.0: $0.728
    Toyota Corolla: $0.732
    Chevrolet Cavalier: $0.757
    Pontiac Sunfire: $0.758
    Chevrolet Aveo: $0.765
    Mazda Protegé: $0.772
    Chevrolet S10: $0.779
    Ford Focus: $0.0803
    Hyundai Accent: $0.840
    Kia Spectra: $0.864
    Mitsubishi Lancer: $0.872
    Suzuki Aerio: $0.888
    Nissan Sentra: $0.962
    Kia Rio: $0.964
    Ford Ranger: $0.968
     
  2. Maytrix

    Maytrix Member

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    Interesting article, but I think there's some big flaws that aren't addressed.

    I question how they determine the various costs that go in to the figures. And how much of an advantage does a well established vehicle have over a new state of the art vehicle? Obviously more has gone into development of the state of the art vehicle, than, let's say a Jeep that's been around forever and ultimately changed very little over the years.

    In regards to energy used during the manufacturing process..etc, do they consider where the energy is coming from? Some power is much cleaner than other power, so it would be difficult to compare.

    I guess from a pure cost standpoint, the article may make sense, but from an environment standpoint, it is lacking quite a bit.
     
  3. priusblue

    priusblue New Member

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  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    him again.... that's his 4th anti-hybrid article in the past few weeks.
     
  5. finally_got_one

    finally_got_one New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Maytrix @ Apr 19 2006, 09:06 AM) [snapback]242093[/snapback]</div>
    Indeed...it would be interesting to see a similar list, but with total emissions over the life of the car...
     
  6. VaPrius

    VaPrius New Member

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    In these so-called energy usage studies, they content that the planning of the vehicle is a significant portion of the cost. So, for fair treatment we should add 100+ years of research and design on ICEs by thousands of automotive engineers. Given their analytical ability, imagine what these folks would do to the cost of a hydrogen car!