Printed 10/19/16 Page of

Source: ACEEE

[Feb 20, 2003]

Amidst growing public interest in fuel efficiency and increasing concern about gas-guzzling SUVs, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) today released the new ACEEE's Green Book(r): The Environmental Guide to Cars and Trucks -- Model Year 2003.

Recognized as the preeminent buyer's guide to environmentally friendly passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs, ACEEE's Green Book(r) helps consumers compare vehicles on the basis of a "Green Score," a measure that incorporates fuel consumption and air pollution, including both unhealthy tailpipe emissions and the emissions of gases that cause global warming.

"Whether you are looking to buy a compact car, large car, pickup, minivan, or SUV, the Green Book takes the guesswork out of identifying which models are friendlier to the environment," says co-author James Kliesch, a Research Associate at ACEEE.

Topping the 2003 "greenest" list is Honda's hybrid gasoline-electric Insight, followed by Honda's natural gas-powered Civic GX and Toyota's electric RAV4 EV sport utility. Two mass-market-oriented hybrid gasoline-electric sedans, the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid, are next in line among the greenest vehicles of 2003. The Green Book notes that gasoline-powered vehicles have been steadily improving in terms of environmental performance, a fact reflected in this year's list: ten of the twelve greenest vehicles of the year can be fueled at the gas pump.

Although the list of "meanest" vehicles is topped by a pair of sports cars, it is the remainder of the list that illustrates a problem with this year's new vehicle fleet. "From an environmental standpoint, the Ferraris and other exotics aren't a big deal, as their sales are very limited," stated co-author John DeCicco, a Senior Fellow at Environmental Defense. "Of greater concern are the massive SUVs and pickup trucks, which not only have high emissions and consume a lot of fuel, but also are sold in large numbers."

ACEEE's Green Book(r) identifies greener choices in a wide range of vehicle types. The "best-in-class" list includes larger vehicles, such as the more efficient versions of the Chrysler Voyager minivan, Ford F-150 pickup, and Toyota Highlander SUV. Sedans like the Chevrolet Impala and Honda Accord also score well in their classes.

"America's car buying decisions have significant energy, economic, and environmental impacts," noted Bill Prindle, Deputy Director of ACEEE. "If new car and light truck buyers chose the most efficient vehicles in each size class, we would slash the 2003 fleet's gasoline use by 20 percent, reducing gasoline costs by $3.7 billion and saving the average buyer $220 a year. And, of course, we would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on imported oil."

Along with its summary "Green Scores," ACEEE's Green Book(r) details each model's fuel economy, health-related pollution impacts, global warming emissions, and estimated fuel expenses. Additional highlights of the new edition include:

*Advice on how to buy green when shopping for a new car or truck.

*Details about today's gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, and a preview of hybrids coming to market in the near future.

* Information on how advanced technologies are providing today's cars and trucks with improved environmental performance.

*A summary of tomorrow's environmental designs, including advanced engine technologies, high-strength lightweight materials, and hydrogen fuel cells.

Hard copies of the book can be ordered for $8.95 (plus shipping and handling) direct from ACEEE Publications, from GreenerCars.com, or from major retail booksellers. ACEEE's Green Book(r): The Environmental Guide to Cars and Trucks -- Model Year 2003 will be distributed nationwide. Bulk sales discounts are also available. For further information, contact:

ACEEE Publications

1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 801

Washington, DC 20036-5525

Phone: 202-429-0063, Fax: 202-429-0193

Email: aceee_publications@aceee.org

Website: www.aceee.org

Source: Kansas City Star

[Feb 20, 2003]

DON THOMPSON

Associated Press

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It's no coincidence that General Motors Corp. chose California to showcase a fleet of futuristic low pollution vehicles it says will one day change the planet.

Nor that eight foreign and domestic automakers and four of the world's largest oil companies are teamed just across the Sacramento River from the state Capitol in an unusually cooperative venture to develop and test hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.

Once again, California's pacesetting regulations are at the center of a national debate, this time over the role of increasingly affordable and popular hybrid vehicles. But GM is among automakers fighting California air pollution and auto efficiency standards while promising an eventual replacement for the internal combustion engine.

The debate has become sharply politicized.

The Bush administration has joined the automakers in a court fight against California standards they fear will spread to other states - prompting harsh criticism from Democratic Gov. Gray Davis - even as the Republican president promises $1.2 billion for research and development of the hydrogen-based technology.

President Bush said the generation born now could be driving the cars that will wean the world from the internal-combustion engine to a pollution-free dependence on the universe's most common element.

But skeptical California regulators and environmental groups say there's no need to wait to battle the state's legendary air pollution, because the technology exists now. And they note the hydrogen powering tomorrow's cars could just as easily come from fossil fuels as from nonpolluting sources.

The California Air Resource Board's staff abruptly withdrew its latest proposed zero emission vehicle regulations last week after clean-air groups complained major manufacturers could avoid selling any additional zero emission vehicles for a decade. Instead, the rules would have allowed some automakers to rely on "credits" for existing low-pollution vehicles, including golf cart-like neighborhood runabouts.

Now, the board staff is considering adding new requirements for "hybrid" or "partial" zero emission vehicles that use various technologies to boost efficiency and cut pollution from internal combustion engines - and which are available and affordable right now.

"We're talking 2012 before significant numbers of (hydrogen-based fuel cell) vehicles are on the streets," said board spokesman Jerry Martin. "We're probably talking a generation away. Hybrids are here now."

Major U.S. manufacturers - like General Motors at last week's media "tech tour" - see hybrids as interim vehicles while they set their sights on Bush's vision of transforming America and the world to a "hydrogen economy."

"The more we divert our attention from that, the farther away we push our (fuel cell) development," said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss.

Foreign-owned companies led by Toyota and Hyundai, however, are finding a growing market for affordable hybrids that can trim California's air pollution if they hit the roads in substantial numbers.

"There's going to be over three million of them (projected) by 2011," Martin said. "You get some fairly significant impact in a short period of time. It's a very cost-effective, very efficient savings that could happen right now - is happening right now," in part because of the state's pollution regulations.

Toyota, for instance, is aiming an ad campaign at Californians touting its electric RAV4, gas-electric hybrid Prius and tiny zero emission e-com. By contrast, GM plans to make its full-size Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup hybrids available to the public next year, followed by the Saturn Vue in 2005, and to have hybrid versions of 12 of its models by 2007.

Still, General Motors officials said their Sacramento display of hybrid and fuel cell vehicles demonstrates that state regulations aren't needed, because GM already is irrevocably committed to a future of zero-pollution vehicles. Half the tour's six stops are in California, with visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer and fall.

Developing hydrogen-powered vehicles "provides an opportunity to literally reinvent the automobile," said Larry Burns, the corporation's vice president for research and development and planning.

"Americans could be driving these vehicles in large numbers, and soon," said Beth Lowery, GM's vice president for environment and energy.

State regulators and clean-air advocates say they've heard such promises before, but the dates keep slipping away.

After all, the state's zero emission vehicle requirements would have kicked in this year had they not been blocked by automakers who successfully argued the state was impinging on federal fuel economy standards.

Across the river in West Sacramento, GM and other major foreign and domestic automakers are working literally side-by-side in a state-sponsored California Fuel Cell Partnership to develop and test hydrogen-fueled vehicles.

By year's end about 60 test vehicles should be in local government fleets scattered around the state, said partnership spokesman Joe Irvin.

"We're talking about commercially viable (numbers) by the end of the decade in selected locations, like California urban areas," he predicted. For widespread availability, Irvin said, "we're talking a generation - 15 to 20 years."

The now-deferred California regulations would have required that 10 percent of new vehicles sold in the state have zero or near zero tailpipe emissions, with a gradual increases to 16 percent by 2018.
http://www.evworld.com/databases/shownews.cfm?pageid=news190203-07

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmev118.html

By Nick Green

DAILY BREEZE, Torrance, CA

Publish Date:February 18, 2003

It’s head-snapping, yet whisper-quiet power could take it from zero to 60 mph in 9 seconds, a performance that left most gasoline-powered cars an ever-diminishing sight in the sleek vehicle’s rearview mirror.

It never needed oil, gas or even a key to start it, heralding a vehicle so maintenance-free many drivers found their worst problem was remembering to add windshield washer fluid.

And there were no smog-causing emissions belching from its tail pipe, because it didn’t have one.

It was the EV1, the first electric car built by an American manufacturer.

And by this summer, there likely won’t be a single one left on American roads.

After introducing the EV1 with much fanfare in 1996, General Motors has literally pulled the plug, announcing last year it would require customers to turn in their cars at the expiration of their three-year lease (the car was never available for purchase).

“The bottom line is there was just not a mass market that evolved in California or frankly anywhere else where we were offering EV1s that made the EV1 profitable for General Motors,” said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss, who manages California environment and energy issues. “We were able to only lease 700 EV1s in a four-year time frame and that’s after spending well in excess of $1 billion developing and building them.”

Gradually, EV1 drivers — a collection of environmentalists, technology geeks, government officials and people who simply loved head-turning cars — are reluctantly turning them back in.

The city of Carson, which leased a pair of vehicles to illustrate its commitment to environmental leadership and installed two recharging stations, lost its first EV1 about two weeks ago and will send the other back in May.

The city of El Segundo will soon lose its EV1 as well.

EV Rental cars, based at the Budget Rent a Car lot at Los Angeles International Airport, which once had eight EV1s, has lost two and will see the rest go this summer.

Steve Soboroff, former Los Angeles mayoral candidate and the environmentally minded president of Playa Vista, remembers without hesitation the day he was forced to turn in his beloved EV1 — Dec. 6.

“I had it for six years, I asked them to extend (the lease), but they wouldn’t,” he said. “To me it was like losing a dog. I loved that car. I swear to you I got teary-eyed.”

The reaction was much the same from other EV1 drivers smitten by their sporty-looking, environmentally conscious mode of transportation.

Some started petitions hoping to persuade GM they should be allowed to retain their cars. Others offered cold hard cash.

It was to no avail.

Citing liability concerns, GM insisted the cars must be returned.

Essentially, the company portrays the EV1 as a noble experiment that technological advances have made obsolete.

Hybrids — cars that use a conventional gasoline-powered engine supplemented with an electric battery — are increasing in popularity.

Smaller electric cars, like the Daimler-Chrysler GEM now in use at Playa Vista, are also being built, although what are essentially souped-up golf carts cannot be used on freeways.

And GM believes vehicles that use hydrogen fuel cells are the wave of the future — although it won’t have them on the road until 2010.

That doesn’t placate most people who drove the EV1.

They note that not only are there no other comparable electric vehicles readily available — Torrance-based Toyota recently stopped selling the electric version of its RAV4 — but GM doesn’t build hybrids yet. (GM said it will have hybrid trucks available by year’s end with a dozen hybrid versions of its most popular models on sale by 2007).

Moreover, GM has sued the state to weaken further its already diluted mandates that manufacturers must build a certain number of zero-emission vehicles. Rules like that were the driving force behind the creation of the EV1 in the first place.

And finally, critics contend, GM deliberately killed the EV1, making it hard to get one by rigorously screening customers, turning off potential purchasers by refusing to actually sell them outright and doing a lousy job of advertising the vehicle.

“We had to scream and beg to get on a waiting list for this vehicle,” said Barry Waite, the Carson official responsible for the city receiving its two EV1s.

“Every step of the way they made it hard to get these cars, made it hard to keep these cars,” he added. “We have a large cadre of people here who love these cars — we hate to see it go.”

He sees the company’s supposed backing of hydrogen-powered cars as a method of promising the future to avoid dealing with the present.

“Let’s not let the best be the enemy of the good,” he said. “(The EV1) has really been a Harry Potter — an unwanted nephew living with them. It’s been nearly killed a number of times. A lot of people think they never really gave it a fair chance in the marketplace — they will tell you they did and it failed. But it’s a different kind of car, they really needed to do some actual public education.”

Barthmuss said the car’s inherent drawbacks — such as its limited range of 140-150 miles — proved a barrier to mass market acceptance.

“What we want to do is put our hybrid technology into vehicles that do not force commuters to make a trade-off,” he said. “We really want to demonstrate that General Motors is very serious about reinventing the automobile and has a viable business plan to do so.

“The EV1 was a really good experience in some regards because it really taught us to move to the next level.”

Still, the timing of the EV1s’ withdrawal has some shaking their heads over what they perceive as a short-sighted business decision.

Gas is heading toward $2 a gallon. War in the Middle East looms. And the Bush administration appears to be belatedly acknowledging that global warming is an issue.

General Motors said its EV1s are being donated to universities and museums, while the remainder will be recycled.

But Louis Weiss, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of Los Angeles is incensed at the treatment of what he believes is one of the best electric cars ever built.

“They’re taking all these nice, beautiful cars and crushing them . . . meaning they’re going to take all the metal and build SUVs,” he said. “I think they have their head up their corporate fannies.”

Source: NBCSandiego.Com

[Feb 18, 2003]

SAN DIEGO -- A local legislator wants to encourage energy independence and boost the local economy by developing alternative-fuel technology here in San Diego.

"What we're trying to do is break the monopoly that these guys have," Filner said. "They're gouging us because we have no choice."

Lithium Battery Maker Eyes Hybrid, Fuel-cell Vehicle Markets

Start-up battery maker sees opportunity for lithium technology in hydrogen initiative.

Source: Kansas City Star

[Feb 18, 2003]

BILL BERGSTROM

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - When President Bush talks about clean-burning hydrogen fuel cells, a Pennsylvania startup company sees dollar signs.

Lithium Technology Corp. says hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles of the future, as well as hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles appearing on the roads today, will need the kind of large rechargeable lithium battery assemblies it can make.

LTC says automakers' hunt for greater fuel efficiency also means potential demand for its advanced batteries which store more power, produce less heat and have a flatter, easier-to-package shape than the lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride batteries currently in use.

"We're certainly trying to be a part of it. The technology is here," said James Manning, an LTC vice president.

Toyota and Honda already have hybrid cars on the road. With combined sales last year of about 22,000, compared with overall car and light truck sales of 16.8 million, said Mike Wall, an analyst with IRN Inc., "These hybrid vehicles are not exactly blowing the doors off."

But other makers are moving in the same direction, and General Motors said in January it will offer hybrid versions of several vehicles starting later this year, including cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

"There's a push on with most if not all automakers to boost fuel efficiency," Wall said. For a maker of better batteries, he said, "That's where your opportunity's going to come into play."

Kateri Callahan, a spokeswoman for the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas, said all the major automakers have announced or are preparing to announce hybrid vehicle plans.

"To the extent that those volumes are likely to grow, there will be a market for batteries," Callahan said.

Current hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries. But David J. Cade, LTC's chairman and chief executive officer, says a better battery doesn't have to be much more costly. "In full volume production we will be cost competitive with any other technology," he said.

LTC plans to seed the market with prototypes, then, Cade says, "We'll find a large battery partner that needs a lithium-based technology to give us large-volume production. We will probably form a joint venture to do that."

Cade said he didn't think others would quickly match LTC's technology, some of it patented, for making large, flat lithium battery panels. "You can't just snap your fingers and have lithium technology. It takes about 17 years to go from the lab to the marketplace with a new battery technology."

Hybrid and conventional vehicles soon will be demanding heavier-duty electrical systems as electrical valve-control, steering, air-conditioning and water pump systems take over from mechanical systems that create engine drag and guzzle fuel, said Ron Turi, LTC's director of product development and applications.

"Pretty much all of the automakers in the world are looking at alternative systems based on 42 volts," Turi said.

LTC has shipped two prototype 42-volt batteries - 3 1/2 times the current 12-volt standard - to Europe for testing in propulsion and other automotive systems by a consortium including VW, BMW, Daimler-Chrysler, Opel, Fiat, Volvo and Peugeot.

The company projects just $1.2 million in sales this year, but cites a Frost and Sullivan market research report predicting the U.S. and European market for hybrid-electric-vehicle and 42-volt batteries will grow tenfold from $1 million in 2002 to more than $1 billion by 2011.

LTC, which is based in Plymouth Meeting, got a foothold in the European market in December when it bought the German lithium-polymer battery company GAIA GmbH. GAIA already had contracts totaling about $2.9 million to produce prototype batteries.

In addition to automakers, the company is talking with others interested in batteries, including experimental hybrid-powered bus and truck programs, military and aeronautical agencies including NASA, electric utilities and telecommunications companies. "There is some discussion with a submarine builder," Manning said. "Submarines use a lot of batteries."

President Bush gave batteries another push with his proposal to spend $1.2 billion on hydrogen fuel-cell research. The goal is to move fuel-cell cars from the laboratory to the showroom in 20 years.

That means a big battery market, partly because fuel cells cost a lot to manufacture, Turi said. "To make something viable you need to size your fuel cell as small as possible."

A vehicle can run on smaller, cheaper-to-build fuel cells by using battery power to help accelerate and climb hills, just as battery power permits the use of smaller, stingier gasoline engines in hybrid vehicles.

No matter how fuel efficient or clean-running a vehicle is, Wall said manufacturers will need to slash costs to sell it.

"Gas is still relatively cheap. You could be looking at a payback of several years," Wall said. "For an environmentalist, looking it as an investment in the earth, it might be worth it, but your average Joe Consumer is not looking at it that way."

ON THE NET

Lithium Technology Corp.: http://www.lithiumtech.com

Hybrid cars draw attention

By Kathleen Pender San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, March 2, 2003

Stunned by the soaring price of gasoline, Sue and Tom Spiersch of Alameda are trying to unload their PT Cruiser, which Sue says gets lousy mileage, so they can buy a Toyota Prius hybrid, which is rated at roughly 50 miles per gallon.

Sue, a 52-year-old hairdresser, is strongly opposed to war in Iraq and also would like to help America reduce its dependence on foreign oil. Tom, a 62- year-old retired machinist, is not against the war, but wants a hybrid for the high gas mileage and low emissions.

So far, hybrids have been purchased mainly by environmentalists, technology freaks and celebrities. Meryl Streep, Ted Turner, Cameron Diaz, Ted Danson, Ed Begley Jr. and Jeff Goldblum own Prius cars. So does Ariana Huffington, who traded in her Lincoln Navigator. Leonardo DiCaprio bought one each for himself and his mom, dad and stepmother.

Now the looming war and soaring gasoline prices are broadening the pool of potential buyers to people like the Spiersches.

Sue Spiersch has researched hybrids on the Internet, admired them on the street and consulted friends who own them, but won't visit a dealer until she sells her PT Cruiser. "I know if I go in to test-drive one, I'll buy it," she says.

Hybrid cars have a battery-powered electric motor and a smallish combustion engine that runs on gasoline. Unlike pure electric cars, they never have to be plugged in. During braking or coasting, energy that would have been wasted recharges the battery. The car is powered mainly by electricity in the city and gasoline on the freeway.

It's not clear whether you can save money over the long run with a hybrid. Although hybrids get about 70 percent better gas mileage in the city than comparable gasoline-only models (15 to 20 percent better on the freeway), they cost about one-third more.

Spokesmen for Toyota and Honda, which make the only hybrid cars currently in production, say they haven't yet seen a surge in U.S. sales. But some dealers in the Bay Area -- the largest market for hybrids -- say they're getting more inquiries.

"Since gas hit $2 a gallon, the number of hybrid calls we have been getting is through the roof," says Gene Ouwe, a salesman with Mike Harvey Honda in Burlingame. "I personally in the last week have taken four calls and had four people come in asking about (the Honda Civic Hybrid). In the two weeks prior, I had two people ask."

David Nelson, sales manager with Toyota of Berkeley, says he "hasn't seen a correlation between gas prices and hybrid sales. What's counteracting that is the general recession. If the economy was going gangbusters and everybody had free cash, we probably would see it."

When the Prius came out in 2000, it sold at sticker price or higher. Today "it's being discounted," says Nelson, who has about 20 on his lot.

In February, the average price paid in the Bay Area for a Prius was $20,169,

compared with $14,653 for a Toyota Corolla LE four-door sedan, according to a survey by Edmunds.com.

The Honda Civic Hybrid, introduced in mid-2002, is harder to find and typically sells for sticker price or a bit higher.

The average price paid in the Bay Area for a Honda Civic Hybrid last month was $20,272, according to Edmunds.com.

The average price paid for a regular Honda Civic LX four-door sedan -- built on essentially the same chassis as the hybrid -- was $15,307.

The average price paid for the Honda Insight, a two-seater hybrid hatchback,

was $21,146. The Insight has been discontinued but is still available on some lots.

The price premium isn't as bad as it seems because people who buy a new Prius, Insight or Civic Hybrid this year (or bought one last year) get a $2, 000 federal-tax deduction. The deduction will be phased out, falling gradually to $1,500 next year and to zero in 2007.

The tax break also applies to cars and trucks approved for city and highway driving that run on natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity and other designated clean fuels.

The deduction goes on IRS Form 1040, line 34. On the dotted line write "clean fuel" and the amount. (For more information, read IRS Publication 535, available at www.irs.gov.)

There is no state tax break for hybrids in California.

Even with the tax deduction, it would take several years of substantially higher gasoline prices to recoup the added cost of the hybrids, despite their stellar fuel economy.

The stated gas mileage on the Prius is 52 mpg in the city and 45 on the freeway, compared with 30/39 for a Corolla with an automatic transmission.

The Honda Civic Hybrid is rated at 48/47 versus 29/38 for a regular Civic.

The hybrids get better mileage in the city than on the freeway because they're powered mainly by electricity in stop-and-go traffic. Like Muni's electric buses, they're virtually silent when idling.

In real life, the hybrids -- like most cars -- don't get quite the mileage that's advertised.

"The EPA numbers on your window sticker are pretty good for highway, but not very accurate for city driving," says Walter McManus, executive director of global forecasting with J.D. Power and Associates.

He says the ratings are a good tool to compare different models, but "most people get 15 to 20 percent less fuel economy than rated."

J.D. Power asks car owners to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best).

Hybrid owners rate their fuel economy better than owners of comparable standard vehicles, "but the difference is not dramatic," McManus says.

The Prius gets a 9.5 satisfaction rating for fuel economy, while the Corolla gets 9.0.

The difference isn't bigger, McManus speculates, because the standard Corolla gets pretty good mileage and Prius owners may have higher expectations.

Although the dual-engine technology is new, "hybrid owners rate their engines a little bit better overall than owners of gas-powered engines, but again the difference is not dramatic," says McManus.

Prius and Civic Hybrid owners gave their engines a 9.0 rating overall, compared with 8.7 for the Toyota Corolla and 8.4 for the standard Civic.

One difference between the two hybrids is that the Prius can run on electricity alone, while the Civic Hybrid always needs at least a sip of gasoline. As a result, the Prius gets slightly better mileage in the city.

Another difference is that the Prius instrument panel is mounted in the center of the dashboard. The Civic Hybrid's is in front of the driver, where it usually is.

Both cars have a display that shows whether the engine is using gasoline or electricity and what mileage the car is getting.

This is a good tool for people who want to adjust their driving style to enhance their fuel economy, but it could also be a distraction akin to talking on your cell phone while driving.

Both cars have a three-year/36,000-mile basic warranty, plus a longer warranty on the battery of eight years/100,000 miles for the Prius and eight years/80,00 miles for the Civic Hybrid.

On the Prius, there is no charge for scheduled maintenance up to 37,500 miles.

Edmunds.com estimated what it would cost to own the two hybrids and their closest gasoline-powered counterparts over five years. It found that the hybrids would cost more, despite their fuel savings.

The Prius would cost $28,464 over five years versus $26,434 for the Toyota Corolla.

The Civic Hybrid would cost $28,515, compared with $25,656 for the standard Civic.

The calculation did not factor in the tax deduction for the hybrids because the benefit varies by taxpayer.

The main reason hybrids look more expensive is that their projected depreciation is higher.

"The more expensive a vehicle is within its model range, the greater the depreciation," says Karl Brauer, editor in chief of Edmunds.com. The features that make a car more valuable when it's new don't hold their value. "It's the same thing with a hybrid," says Brauer.

That hasn't been a big concern for hybrid buyers so far. Fuel economy was by far the No. 1 reason people say they bought a hybrid, according to J.D. Power. For Prius owners, resale/holding its value ranked 13th out of 16 factors.

Despite the cost, there are good reasons to buy a fuel-efficient vehicle. That's why states such as Arizona and Virginia let people drive a hybrid in the carpool lanes with only one person.

In California, only zero-emission vehicles -- which do not include hybrids - - are exempt from carpool-lane restrictions. A bill pending in Congress would give one-person hybrids access to carpool lanes nationwide.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

COST OF OWNING A HYBRID

Estimated cost, over five years, of owning a Toyota Prius or Honda Civic

Hybrid compared to the cost of owning the most comparable standard model.

The comparison does not include the $2,000 federal tax deduction on hybrids

because the benefit varies by taxpayer.

Toyota Toyota Honda Honda

Prius Corolla LE Civic Civic LX

Hybrid 4-door sedan Hybrid 4-door sedan

Depreciation $11,754 7,702 10,429 7,260

Financing 3,702 3,044 4,132 3,123

Insurance 4,276 4,461 4,456 4,640

Taxes & fees 2,273 2,099 2,757 2,176

Fuel 3,108 4,247 3,133 4,295

Maintenance 3,634 4,259 2,986 3,540

Repairs 593 622 622 622

Five-year total 29,340 26,434 28,515 25,656

Source: Edmunds.com

Chronicle Graphic

EC:
CHART (1):

HYBRIDS: WHERE THEY'RE SOLD

Market All 2002 hybrids(x)

Market All 2002 hybrids(x)

Northern California 5,598

Southern California 5,462

Seattle/Portland 3,010

Baltimore/Washington 2,952

Boston 2,938

New York 1,801

Denver 1,707

Houston 1,475

Chicago 1,358

Philadelphia 1,196

Minneapolis 828

Miami 768

Dallas/Ft. Worth 704

Cleveland 668

St. Louis 656

Orlando 644

Atlanta 628

Indianapolis 624

Tampa 579

Phoenix 555

Detroit 434

Tennessee 235

Charlotte 238

Pittsburgh 162

Oklahoma 153

Other 308

Total 35,682

(x) - Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Prius

Source: Edmunds.com
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5311285.htm

Posted on Tue, Mar. 04, 2003