If you’re thinking about heading out to your local dealer to pick up a Chevy Volt , Nissan Leaf or another hybrid automobile you might want to take a step back and realize that the money you think you’re going to save isn’t going to be there.
A study commissioned by the New York Times and conducted by TrueCar.com has found that except for in three cases, fuel-efficient technology based on its current higher prices of acquisition simply doesn’t make sense from a monetary perspective.
In fact TrueCar found that even if gas were to reach $5 per gallon it would take the average American consumer more than a decade to realize enough savings to make their high value car purchase worth the acquisition. Making matters worse for automobile manufacturers who push false savings onto buyers, the average car is driven for just 6 years before its traded out or replaced all together with another new vehicle.
The study found that in order to see actual savings with a hybrid or electric vehicle the cost of gas would need to reach $8 per gallon to pay off the difference in pricing over a six year period.
There are two hybrid vehicles that can save you money in as little as two years, the Toyota Prius and the Lincoln MKZ and if you don’t mind diesel-power you can give the Volkswagen Jetta TDI a try.
In the meantime the very car company’s that are making vehicles have turned the idea of owning a hybrid into a status symbol for the environmentally friendly, despite less than stellar changes in gas mileage and car battery production that potentially causes even more damage to our environment than oil drilling and gasoline consumption.
