Hybrid Cars - Is It Worth The Extra Cash Out?
For those out of the loop, a hybrid vehicle is any vehicle that has a combination of two or more power sources. These would include a rechargeable energy storage system, gasoline, hydrogen, compressed air, wind, liquid natural gas, solar, combustibles such as coal and wood.
A hybrid electric vehicle – fast becoming the trend in car purchases- refers to a hybrid with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. There are a lot of advantages for the HEV, both economically and environmentally. And with major car manufacturers like Ford, GM, and Toyota releasing hybrid vehicles into the market, the question in most people’s heads are about the specific benefits one can get from a hybrid electric vehicle.
Depending on your driving style, where you live and the make and model of the hybrid electric vehicle, the rewards you get from driving a hybrid generally upstages the cost of buying one.
An HEV typically costs about $1700 to $11000 more than the traditional gasoline-powered automobile. While hybrid skeptics advise against hybrids because of the expensive repairs it may cost, hybrid vehicle owners have surfaced to defend it. Hybrid vehicle parts and services come under an eight-year warranty and tests show that most of these parts actually last far longer than that. All hybrid manufacturers were required to do testing of their components in extreme conditions and there has been no reason to doubt the hybrid system’s quality and reliability thus far. Although hybrid technology may still be considered as being in its early stages, it has been present for quite a while and there had been no reports of problems or complaints received from hybrid vehicle owners.
Aside from that, maintenance on a hybrid electric vehicle is nothing to be worried about. For its gasoline engine, maintenance is no different from the traditional while hybrid-specific components need no additional maintenance work from the ordinary. The exception would be on the air filter of an HEV’s battery pack, which needs to be replaced every 40000 miles. The HEV also has a regenerative brake pad system which helps the pads last longer than brake pads of old.
Additionally, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides hybrid owners with a federal tax credit commensurate to HEV they have purchased. The downside to this is that most vehicle manufacturers have already reached the ceiling number of HEVs purchased with this perk and tax credits have been phased out for Toyota and Lexus with Honda following suit very soon. But there are still local incentives offered for hybrid vehicle owners such as tax deductions, use of the carpool lanes, parking discounts and a lot of others.
More importantly, a hybrid electric vehicle gives you the satisfaction of being able to contribute to the worldwide care for the environment. HEV’s cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically and does have a better fuel economy. HEV’s recapture energy normally wasted during car activities such as braking and converts the kinetic energy to something reusable for the vehicle.
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