LT Don wrote: > > I tried to talk him into the hybraid, but engineer that he is he > pulled out his slide rule, bounced cost against fuel prices (then), > and said that it was almost a wash.
It's only a wash if you get your batteries for free. $4k for a battery pack in 5 years or so really skews the calculation. Make mine a CRX HF please, 65mpg and only one $30 battery. I saw a 2000 Insight advertised nearby for $6k last week. "high miles", the ad said. How much you wanna bet the owner noticed that the battery charge falls off much faster than it used to, checked with the dealer on replacement, and then decided to sell? Remember the GM electric, I believe it was called Impact? If you went to that extreme to optimize a gas engined car of equal performance and range, your fuel economy would be triple digit, maybe even 200mpg, and the cost of the tiny gas engine would be a fraction of the electric stuff.
