Hybrid Drivers Offset Some of their Fuel Savings by Driving More
By John O'Dell July 17, 2009They Tend To Get More Tickets, Too, Researchers Say
Question: If you buy a 35 mpg hybrid and drive 17,000 miles per year are you a "greener" motorist than the guy in his 25 mpg sedan logging 15,000 miles?
Answer: Of course. The other guy'd be using 114.3 gallons more than you did, to get 2, 000 fewer miles down the road.
Driving a green car doesn't make a green driver, study shows.
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In fact, you might be driving a little crazier than the others. You tend, as a group, to get more tickets than non-hybrid drivers.
The subject comers up because a consulting group on San Francisco, Quality Planning, decided to look into hybrid owners' driving habits to see if hybrids deserve the "green" driver discounts some insurance companies automatically bestow on them.
The company's researchers surveyed owners of 360,000 vehicles in 2007 and 2008.
They found that while drivers of hybrids have commuting distances similar to those who drive conventional vehicles, hybrid drivers tend to put on a lot more miles after work and on weekends - an average of 2,000 a year more than non-hybrid owners.
The study doesn't say why, but Dr. Raj Bhat, president of Quality Planning, told Dow Jones news that "high-mileage drivers appear to be attracted to these vehicles."
Hmm. Wonder if it could be the fuel savings?
Here comes the bad stuff.
The study also found that hybrid drivers get tickets a lot more frequently than those who don't drive hybrids (we've noticed a lot of Prius drivers zipping past at 80 mph on the freeway!). In fact, the study found, Prius drivers get .38 tickets per 100,000 miles driven, versus .23 tickets per 100,000 miles for drivers of conventional cars and trucks.
No word on ticket ratios for Civic Hybrid drivers, or Ford Escape Hybrid pilots. Probably because there are a lot more Prius drivers out there.
And - thud! here comes the other shoe - hybrids, because of their sophisticated and expensive powertrains and electronics and sometimes fancy front fascias designed to improve airflow, cost more to repair than their non-hybrid counterparts.
Considerably more, sometimes: the study found that repair costs for Toyota Highlander Hybrids are about 45 percent higher than for non-hybrid Highlander.
Bottom line seems to be that if you drive a hybrid and get an insurance discount, don't be so quick to look down your nose at non-hybrid drivers as you drive past the gas stations where they hang out.
You might be using less fuel per mile, but they may be subsidizing the cheap liability rates that help you afford your hybrid.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
LEAVE A COMMENT
Click here to comment on this entry.It's really sad the amount of effort people will put into trying to find a negative side to hybrids.
One thing you should remember when quoting studies is any study that is done to prove a predetermined point is pretty much worthless.
It's far too easy to choose the only parameters and data you want to prove the point you were trying to make.
It makes sense that if you drive more miles you're going to get more tickets. There is nothing illuminating here. Why do hybrid drivers log more miles? "high-mileage drivers appear to be attracted to these vehicles." Well duh.
What exactly is the point of the first part of this article? High mileage drivers are high mileage drivers whether they drive a Prius or a Suburban. Or in the case of two of my high mileage driving friends, a Jetta TDI and an Expedition.
And what a surprise, they cost more to repair. That means absolutely nothing without any accompanying data showing repair rates and average yearly cost of ownership compared to non-hybrids. I was under the impression that the Prius has excellent reliability (other than the HID headlight problem).
@greenpony: the study states that Prius drivers get 0.38 tickets per 100,000 miles as opposed to 0.23 per 100,000 miles for "conventional" drivers, so the fact that Prius drivers get more tickets cannot be explained away by "they drive more miles" as that statistic is already normalized to the number of miles driven.
You're right, I misinterpreted the numbers. My "well duh" still stands though.
it's the self-entitlement that hybrid owners have. the normal rules don't apply to them because they are doing the earth a favor.
it's not rocket science.
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