![]() ![]() To be sure, the Escape Hybrid 4×4 is not an optimized platform. If the goal is an appreciable improvement in overall fleet efficiency, hybrid technology must be disseminated to all sorts of vehicles appealing to a wide variety of buyers – underline the word “appealing.” Trouble is, if you hold this technology hostage to the best possible application, you limit it to vehicles such as the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, those strange visitors from another planet. Is there something fundamentally misguided about fitting an SUV – an inherently inefficient vehicle morphology – with a hybrid powertrain? Doesn’t such a configuration squander much of the gain otherwise realized with hybridizing? The same sort of question applies to the Ford Escape Hybrid, the first hybrid SUV to reach the market (it will be followed by the Toyota Highlander and Lexus 400h next year and by the Mercury Mariner in model year 2007). The most interesting correspondence I received challenged the underlying philosophy of the Accord Hybrid, to wit: Should hybrid technology be used to chase performance – the Accord Hybrid is a full second quicker to 60 mph than the regular V6 – at the expense of greater fuel efficiency? Isn’t a hybrid performance car something of an oxymoron? This is not a dollar-for-dollar credit as a deduction, the savings would amount to the taxpayers’ federal income tax rate times $2,000 so if your rate is, say, 28%, you would see a benefit of $560. In late September, the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 extended the $2,000 tax deduction for hybrid vehicle purchases through 2005 – a rare bright spot in Congress’ dismal retrogression on energy issues. I had not, since it would vary from buyer to buyer. ![]() Honda says the hybrid components are no more or less vulnerable than other powertrain components however, of the 65,000 or so Honda hybrid units tooling around the country, fewer than 100 have required a change in battery packs.Īnother reader asked if I had factored in the federal tax credit for hybrid vehicles. The Accord Hybrid qualifies as a California Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, which means its powertrain parts are warranted for 10 years or 150,000 miles. Had I factored in the cost of replacing the battery pack (about a $3,000 part) or the other hybrid components? I had not. Hang on, wrote one reader: That would add up to almost 240,000 miles. Assuming $2.25 per gallon and 100 miles of daily commuting, it would take, I wrote, about 6 1/2 years to recoup the difference. Several writers questioned the break-even calculation comparing the price premium of the Accord Hybrid model (about $3,400 over a similarly equipped V6) with potential fuel-cost savings. After my story about the Honda Accord V6 Hybrid a couple of weeks ago, I received plenty of thoughtful e-mail from the Times’ astute readership, who had apparently found the column by accident while looking for the Food section. ![]()
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