Hybrid demand increases with gas price

6/6/2008Perhaps it was the US government's way of warning Americans about an impending gas shortage. If you bought a hybrid in 2006 or 2007, you most likely qualified for what the IRS called an Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit--ranging from the hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on make, model, and date of purchase--on your tax return, according to the Internal Revenue Service website irs.gov.

Now with this credit long phased out in 2008 and gas soaring over $4 a gallon, demand is higher and supply is lower than ever for these hybrid cars in the Boston area.

"We have roughly a six-month wait for the 2008 Toyota Prius," Acton Toyota salesman Ken Hsu said. "Yesterday someone turned in a 2007 Prius at the end of its lease. We sold that in 30 minutes."

Fuel economy is the number one feature car buyers look for these days, Hsu said.

The hybrid Toyota Prius--estimated at 48/45 mpg city/hwy--ranks highest among gas-efficient cars, on cars.com's Top 10 2008 Hybrids list.

According to the UN definition of a hybrid, "A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle with at least two different energy converters and two different energy storage systems (on-board the vehicle) for the purpose of vehicle propulsion."

Toyota satisfies both of these requirements with both a gas/petrol engine and electric motors coupled with a gas/petrol tank and battery storage systems, Toyota's hybrid synergy drive web site said.

The Prius gets more mileage in the city, in fact, because its battery is charged by the petrol engine when the driver depresses the brake, according to Toyota's website.

Coming in at a close second on the cars.com list in mileage is the Honda Civic hybrid, with 40 mpg city and 45 mpg hwy.

It's not as efficient as its Toyota cousin but at Bernardi Honda in Natick, they are having similar trouble holding onto their Civic hybrids, salesperson Jessie Welsh said. And don't think about trading in your gas-guzzling SUV for a fuel-friendly hybrid because "We don't want them," Welsh said.

"Anything 4-cylinder and hybrid are hot right now," she said. "Even our small size SUV, the 4-cylinder Honda CRV, gets 25 miles to the gallon and is selling well."

The appeal stretches beyond improved gas mileage for some hybrid drivers.

"Because [hybrids] used to be the top of the line for these cars, they have a lot of bells and whistles that you couldn't normally find unless you paid extra," Emmanuel Paraschos of Newton said.

Paraschos, who drives a Toyota Camry hybrid, a number 4 rank on cars.com, said that among these bells and whistles on the hybrid are monitoring instruments that encourage the driver to drive economically.

"They're made with a lot of warning messages to entice you to save gas. You can see immediately that your gas consumption is good or not so good," he said. "It teaches you to drive modestly."

Paraschos said his friends calculated that it would take him four years to make his money back through gas savings when he bought the hybrid Camry a year ago.

"But that was when gas was $2.50 per gallon," he said. "Now that gas is at $4, I've probably already made my money back.