We own a gas-powered Honda Civic hybrid as well as a standard Honda Odyssey.
We average 40 miles per gallon (more when I drive -- it's my wife's commuting car, and she has a bit of a lead foot). A non-hybrid Honda Civic is estimated to get 28-30 mpg.
The added cost wan't insignificant -- the hybrid was about $8,000 more than a non-hybrid Civic. The question is, has it been worth it as a pure financial proposition?
Over the last 5+ years, we've driven the car just over 70,000 miles, and after doing a bit of research, I'd estimate the average price of gas over that period was around $3.25. Assuming 40 miles per gallon as an average over the lifetime of our ownership of the car, we've purchased 1,750 gallons of gas. Had we bought a standard, non-hybrid Civic and averaged 30 miles per gallon, we would have purchased 2,333 gallons, or 583 more. Multiply that by $3.25, and we've saved approximately $1,900 in gas costs, so on the face of it, the savings does not justify the additional cost.
I always knew that the gas prices alone would never justify a hybrid in a purely financial sense, at least not while gas prices remained below $4-$5/gallon, but I thought that when it came time to trade in the car, should we decide to do that, the difference would be negligible. So you can imagine my surprise to find that a standard Civic with the same mileage and condition has a Kelly Blue Book value $1600 MORE than our hybrid ($7,500 vs. $5,900). I'm not sure if this is a glitch in the KBB site or if hybrids simply aren't in high demand right now because gas prices are barely over $2/gallon.
That said, we plan to continue driving this car for quite some time, perhaps until our oldest child can drive, and that won't be for another 7 years. Assuming it lasts that long, we'll have put close to another 100k miles on it, meaning a net reduction of about 1,400 gallons of gas over the lifetime of the vehicle. It's impossible to say where gas prices will go over that time, but assuming they average $3/gallon, over the lifetime of the vehicle we'd save about $4,400 in gasoline costs. At that point, my guess is the difference between the value of a standard vs. hybrid vehicle would be negligible, as its value would mostly be in what it would garner if sold for scrap.
Beyond the financial impact, burning a gallon of gas produces 20 lbs of CO2, so using 1400 fewer gallons of gas produces 14 tons less CO2. Considering my household produces about 10 tons of CO2 per year for heat and electricity (math omitted, but based on some research I think this is a good estimate), this car will reduce my family's carbon footprint by 1.5 years of heat/electricity usage over its lifetime at a cost of about $3,600 over a 12-year period, or less than a $1/day. For some that may not be worth it. But it's a price that I'm willing to pay.
