Oil At $70 A Barrel & How I Do

My parents and a cousin both own the Prius and the things are the business -- reliable, quiet and the mileage can't be beat. You get over $3000 in tax credits for buying one these days.

The down side, predictably, is the waiting lists. A friend tried to buy one this week. The dealership said not only is there a long waiting list, lately, they can't even keep one on the lot for people to look at...

I wonder, though, if these cars really are any better than very small, light, internal combustion cars. I mean, suppose having a hybrid only adds a slight bit to the fuel economy of a tiny car. It makes more sense just to buy a conventional, internal combustion driven tiny car.

Oil is going higher with predictions of $100 a barrel by the end of the year. It cost me nearly fifty bucks to fill up my car earlier this week. Yikes!
If I could plan things better I might conserve better, so far I have not done a good job of this at all. 5.25 to fill up your scooter seems quite nice.

Hybrids aren't all they're cracked up to be, as it turns out. barlow is right: a well-built subcompact can get 40+ mpg anyway, while hybrids can take that to just under 50 mpg. It's something, but it's not necessarily worth the cost of the vehicle, tax credits notwithstanding.

Energy costs have always determined how expensive things are. Whether it's the price of oil, coal, uranium, or riverside mills, the cost of extracting energy from the environment and converting it into useful work is the baseline cost of all the goods a society produces. Part of the boom of the 90s was cheap energy. The new cheap energy will be nuclear power, if the freaking greens would just let it be.

So - Josiah - how much did the scooter cost anyway? And how long will it take for the 90 - 100 mpg to earn that money back? And then - how does the wife like riding on the back?

(via Andrew Sullivan)

Last year I was at the same point as you, Josiah. The Prius gets roughly 40mpg in mixed driving. My 2004 Volkswagen Jetta TDI? 40mpg. Difference? Mine's cheaper, assembled in Mexico, designed by Germans, and throws down 177 ft/lb of torque @ 1800 RPM (which means it's a blast to drive). Gotta love the turbo.

When diesel hits $4 or $5/gal, I'm gonna start the St. Elmo Biodiesel Co-op. We'll buy a $1000 fuel processor, get Mojo and Krystal to donate their used cooking grease, and roll in our biodiesel cars for

...for > $1.50/gal, while emitting completely clean exhaust and improving engine longevity.

Rob,
I LOVE riding on the back :)

Actually if you take a look at http://www.calcars.org/ it is even a better alternative to Hybrids. PHEV's (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) or Hydrogen cars are the way of the future. Toyota Prius+ (a modded Prius) routinely gets 80-100MPG. I guess the issue would be to remember to plug it in every night. I am seriously considering getting the Prius as my first car and reducing the weight with lexan windows, carbon fiber, and lighter seats. The engineer in me loves experiments!

Josiah,

A hybrid is a better choice than, than no choice. I hope you will consider an alternative. The TDI Jetta or New Beetle or Passat diesel.From an economic stand point these fuel sippers are unbeatable. My04' Jetta logs 50 miles to the gallon on dino-diesel. I get the same mileage as a hybrid, better in some circumstances. I run my car on biodiesel most of the time. I pump it at Midnight oil on bonny oaks drv. It sells for 2.30 a gallon. Thats a bit cheaper than gas? It offers substantial enviromental advantages. Do yourself a favor and test drive the TDI. This is not your dad's diesel, if you did not know it was a diesel ,you wouldn't know it was a diesel.
You have been sold a bill of goods about nuclear power. I included a link to the nuclear policy institute. What will we do with the waste? It must be store for thousands of years. What will we do with out the ozone layer that protects us from harmful radiation? The major emission of nuclear plants is the cfc refrigerant from cooling towers. Yes, it was band, but guess whos lobbyist got an exemption? I don't guess you have traveled to russia lately? Chernoybol bring anything to mind? With the nuclear lobby hard at work to keep it from public view, you probably won't hear about that much. I would hope a bit of research would quell the nuclear option. It does not have to be very deep research.
Best regards

Hydrogen cars are hype more than substance. The major manufacturers are not being honest(gosh,can you believe that?) with everyone. Hydrogen as a fuel source is a loooooong way away. It cost 2 dolars for every dollar of fuel. The substance is hydrogen storage as a fuel. There is no economical(read efficient) way to use it. Our future will involve a mix of many fuels and sources. Hydrogen as fuel has allowed the corporate world to avoid doing the real work needed to secure the future. It will be a mix of solar and wind (stored) and biofuels(alcohol and biodiesel) plus some of the lesser gases(methane at the moment from landfill). There are already many 2nd generation examples online. try googling alt.enegy for a small sampling. Christians might want to look at "A journey into forever" for a taste of what the church is doing.

Even though I am currently commuting to work via bicycle (all of a few days) I have to go on record as saying that I really like big cars and powerful internal combustion engines. There has to be a way to balance environmentalism with auto enthusism.

For the auto enthusiasts and SUV drivers, and even those who have a couple extra dollars to spend on cleaning up the environment, there is a program called TerraPass . Purchase one of their stickers for $80 (i believe), and they will use it to clean up the damage produced by roughly 350 vehicles on the road for 1 year. Drop in the bucket? Yes. But lets face it, we are still quite a bit away from having a few good options, and this can start helping now.

Alas! Alack!

Oh were I to be mounting a hyperbolically economical steed of effeciency similar in beauty yours, Josiah, as I take my fossil-fuel burning ass to work.

$5.25! One day. Someday.

What a sec... So your saying, Glen, that our government subsidized oil is cheaper than Hydrogen? If our oil wasn't subsidized by the government, then it would be more like Germany or England at $5.50ish/gallon. Btw... I think your estimate for Hydrogen is more like $1-$2/lb http://www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/facts/favorites/fcvt_fotw205.shtml
Which I don't know how that compares to galons. I agree with the bio-diesel. I figure just head on over to McDonalds and ask them to fill 'er up with all of that used french fry oil. After purifying it first of course (and probably doing a lot more to it).

I own a hybrid (Prius), and it's quite frankly the best car I've owned, the hybrid part notwithstanding. And it's not that much mroe expensive (only $5k more than a comparable non-hybrid). It was one of the best purchases that I've made.

Changing driving habits is the quickest and easiest way to save money as gas prices rise. It's interesting that we obsess over a 10-cent increase in gas (about a $1.50 per tank) yet drive 65+ mph (20% more fuel consumed than 55 mph) thereby throwing away several dollars per tank.

Consider this. I have been driving a 2004 Prius since new. I average between 43 and 48 mpgs. Recently in for service. The voice command and the radio not working, $500 to fix. The headlamp leveling sensor, not working, another $500.00. The car has 60,000 miles. I can't wait for the nav system or other more complex electrical problems. $1000 can buy alot of gas. This is not an economy car.