The hype around hybrids has me really interested and I believe, so are many others too. Global warming, pollution, energy crisis, rising gas prices etc have led the world to hug hybrids tightly. However, there are many subtle issues that we are unaware of and need to be dealt with promptly before jumping on to support hybrids...otherwise you might end up hugging hybrids instead of Hummers!



Art Spinella, President of CNW Marketing Research and an auto analyst, who undertook a comprehensive ‘Dust to Dust’ study of various vehicles right from production plans, raw materials, selling and construction to disposal– found out that overall hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. Even more surprising, smaller hybrids’ energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs.



According to Spinella, the average life of Hummers is over 300,000 miles while Prius is only 100,000 miles. Furthermore, Hummer takes much less time and energy to manufacture, main raw ingredient is low-cost steel, and easier to dispose. All in all, the energy costs of disposing a Hummer are 60 percent less than an average hybrid’s and its design and development costs are 80 percent less.



In reality, as put forward by auto-writer Richard Burr in the Weekly Standard, hybrids don’t deliver anywhere close to the gas mileage that the agency attributes to them. According to Spinella, hybrid sales every month this year have reduced compared to the same time last year. Reason being; people prefer to buy non-hybrid with the same mileage or somewhere near that due to the lower price. Spinella’s customer satisfaction surveys also reveal 62 percent of hybrid owners are dissatisfied with the fuel-economy performance. Hybrids also have a disastrous pollution and energy consumption record in Japan and other Asian countries where these cars are manufactured.



Via: Reason.Org