a hybrid is hardly a band-aid. as i said before, regenerative braking is the hybrids primary redeeming feature. if you think hybrids are a waste, you have no idea how much energy is wasted under normal braking that a hybrid recovers. it is such an efficient feature that the escape hybid boast HIGHER city economy than highway economy.
and if you think hybrids are hard to work on, youve never been under the hood of one. basic maintainence on an escape hybrid is 100% the same as maintainence on a non-hybrid. the hybrid portion of the system requires NO regular maintainence and the computer system used is not so different than a regular non-hybrid model.
you know most hybrids today already use this, right? ford calls theirs the CVT (constantly variable transmission), and they use it in the escapes.
Hybrids are the "feel good cars."
A Toyota Pruis cost $25,000 and a comparable Toyota Corolla costs $15,000
The Prius gets 45 mpg and the Corolla gets 38 mpg.
That's 10 Thousand dollars for 16% better mileage !
Let's do the MATH based on $2.50 gas & 20,000 miles per year.
Prius: 20,000 / 45mpg = 444 gallons per year X $2.50 = $1,111 of fuel per year.
Corolla: 20,000 / 38mph = 526 gallons per year X $2.50 = $1,315 of fuel per year.
For a difference of: $204 per year in fuel cost savings.
$204 / $10,000 extra for the Prius = 49.
Yep, 49 that is the number of YEARS it will take to BREAK EVEN driving a Prius over the non-hybrid Corolla!
Hybrid drivers are the ultimate Kool-Aid drinkers!!!!!!
Print this out and hand it to a Prius driver.
BTW, Regenerative braking is NOT as effective as claimed.
AD