Is a hybrid SUV worth it?

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I was recently asked about how wise a decision it would be to get a large SUV hybrid. The person in question was one who actually had use for such a large vehicle and currently owned an aging Expedition, a large SUV that was suffering from increasing repair costs and was reaching the end of its service life. She had started doing research on a large Hybrid SUV, in particular the Yukon Hybrid, but was encountering stiff resistance from her husband, who had a mechanic friend who told them that the added expenses made such a proposition a money hole.

So, the question is, if you’re in the market for a large SUV, is going to a hybrid a good choice? After all, it seems almost oxymorons, after all, aren’t hybrids tiny uncomfortable vehicles? Not so, GM, Ford, and Toyota all have hybrid SUV’s, though GM is the only one at the moment who has a large SUV on the market. Let’s take a look at the numbers, which you can follow along at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

Now, we’ll use some personalized settings, driving an average of 15,000 miles a year, that gas prices stay locked at $2.69, and that you can merely achieve EPA MPG with said large SUVs. (Personally, in last years MPG Challenge at Hybridfest Green Drive Expo, I got 28 MPG, 7 MPG above EPA on a timed course; http://www.greendriveexpo.com/2008-mpg-challenge-data.html ) So, how does our handy side-by-side calculator stack up a Yukon 1500 2WD Hybrid against a Yukon 1500 2WD? To drive both vehicles twenty five miles, the conventional vehicle will cost you an extra $1.28. Not much in savings, is it? Moving on, to miles to a tank, the Hybrid will attain an extra 140 miles on a tank of fuel. That’s halfway between Detroit and Chicago per tank, not bad. Annual fuel cost, you save $770 a year by having the hybrid. It would seem all those $1.28’s have added up.

According to GMC’s own build and price (http://www.gmc.com/ ) there’s about an $8000 price difference between the two base models. Now, that’s without loading up the conventional Yukon with all the additional features and accessories that come standard in the Hybrid, nor does it account for any incentives, bonus cash, or other pricing modifiers which would vary, but should you compare between the Yukon Denali and the Yukon Hybrid, then you’re only talking a difference of $785 in the Denali’s favor. This, oddly enough makes it the vehicle with the largest and smallest price differences between any hybrid model and its non-hybrid equivalent. I won’t get into the notion of the hybrid premium here, much like I won’t debate the merits of a navigation system or a stereo as being worth their respective costs; however it seems safe to say that the Hybrid is hardly an unrecoverable expense. Furthermore the benefit of the Hybrid doesn’t end here.

The simple change from a large SUV to a large Hybrid SUV has other benefits. You consume 6.5 barrels of oil less a year, four of which would’ve come from a foreign power. That’s 4 barrels less a year that America would have had to buy from another country just by one American making a change from a large SUV to a large Hybrid SUV, not to a smaller car, not by driving less, just by changing the vehicle they drive to a Hybrid. But wait, there’s more! The Hybrid also emits 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year less.

Over five years of owning a Yukon 1500 Hybrid instead of a standard Yukon 1500, on average will save $3,850 in fuel costs, consume 20 fewer barrels of foreign oil, and emit 17.5 tons less of carbon dioxide, or about what an American Redwood would’ve stored. Over ten years of ownership, the Yukon 1500 Hybrid owner will have saved $7,700 in fuel bills, saved America from needing 40 barrels of foreign oil, and prevented 35 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Those fuel savings, by the way, are assuming that gasoline prices never rise above $2.69 a gallon for the next ten years. All of that, just by making the single decision to buy a Hybrid large SUV instead of a conventional large SUV.

Seems like a pretty easy decision if you ask me.