More and more people are now on the Hybrid band wagon especially now when gas is high. The tree huggers like them and say they are good for the environment. The commuters like them for a tax break and some states allow them in the HOV lane with a single passenger. People are really saving the environment and spending way less on gas.
Well there is a flipside, you may get 45 mpg and produce less ozone pollution, but now the rest of the story. My brother-in-law is a GM mechanic and a damn good one too. He just shakes his head at the hybrids and says junk. What no one is telling the consumer the average battery life for the hybrids is about 5 years give or take a year. He has already replaced the battery units on several that were just 4 years old and out of warranty.
When the owner got the bill they were amazed at the costs of around $2000.00 all that money they saved in gas was lost and if you figure it up they were in the hole. Then the batteries are hazardous waste so you are not polluting the air, but there is a potential of polluting the soil if not handled correctly. At about the same time the voltage regulator to the drive train needs some maintenance and there is another $800.00. Needless to say anything about the drive train for another $500.00. Then there are the breaks, rotors for another $700.00 for grand total of $4000.
I keep every piece of equipment's maintenance costs on a spread sheet and my wife's 94 shadow $2390.00 to date. My old CJ which I had for almost 20 years $6324.00 to maintain, my 98 RAM is at $4548.00 new tyranny at 120,000, well you get the picture.
At 4 to 5 years on a hybrid you are looking at dishing out $4000.00 not including all the money already spent on general maintenance. If you compare the hybrids to any other non-hybrid of about the same size and half the MPG the non-hybrid is cheaper to run and maintain.