Expensive? Sounds like a good deal here. I'd buy it.
If a person drives 400 miles a week, a low average for most US commuters this has an ROI of 2 years 8 months.
If their current car gets 22 mpg, a government average estimate for average US vehicle mpg thrown about a lot in these discussions, a 50 percent boost in mpg is now 33 mpg.
The math is simple from there.
400 miles divided by 22 mpg = 18.18 gallons a week. At the $3.90 a gallon I saw this morning that is $70.90 a week or about $283.60 a month. (using a 4 week month for example only)
400 miles divided by 33 mpg = 12.12 gallons a week. At the same $3.90 that is $47.27 a week or $189.08 a month.
That is a savings of $94.52 a month or roughly $1,134.24 a year. That makes the ROI approximately 2 years and 8 months.
The actual ROI is slightly better ($1,228.76 a year) if you factor in the 4 weeks missing because I used a simple 4 week month as standard for the sake of a simple calculation.
That is a much better ROI than the ROI, on the extra cost, you would see from fuel savings buying any OEM hybrid compared to buying a comparably sized conventional car.
If your car is on the high end of their testing results and gets a nearly 100 improvement in mpg you would be looking at an even faster ROI.
