http://thewatt.com/article-1070-nested-1-0.html

thewatt.com reports on a study released by CNW Market Research Inc., analyzing the total energy consumption required to r&d, manufacture, bring to market, use to end-of-life, and disassemble/recycle/trash a vehicle, called the 'dust to dust' study. The study finds that contrary to prevailing wisdom, hybrids still consume significantly more energy than their non-hybrid counterparts. The big example was the Honda Civic: the standard Civic weighed in at $2.42/mile total energy cost, while the Civic hybrid came in at $3.24/mile; a 34% increase in total energy cost! Ironically, many larger vehicles score better, because of simpler material use, less r&d, and common part applications: the Hummer H3 lobs one over the fence with a $1.95/mile. The only major hole in the study is that the life of the vehicle is determined by the manufacturer's suggested life: Toyota rates the Prius with a 100,000 mile expected life; GM practically calls the Hummers eternal, which skews the results.

Anyway, I digress. The reason I'm posting here (aside from the frequent chatter about a Scion hybrid) is the vehicle model with the lowest dust-to-dust energy cost: the Scion xB at $0.47/mile!

 

There should be a tax break for owning a Scion.

 

This story was posted quite awhile ago. It took me some time to understand what they meant by total cost. It is hard to factor in the R&D costs--I am sure that is what really drives up the hybrids. You would think the xA would have the same cost per mile or be even cheaper--go figure!

 

That sounds like an interesting study and makes sense when you consider the simplicity and efficiency of the xB.

The salesman that helped me with my purchase made a similar claim. He said that the operation cost of the xB was an average of $.75 per mile factoring in fuel, maintenance, vehicle cost, etc. He went on to say that was much better than the hybrids because of the replacement costs of the batteries and other non-mpg related costs that are disproportionately high.

I'm liking my Box more each day (owned it since the weekend). Still on the first tank of gas...today would have been fill-up day on the Seqouia!

 

Yep

Prieus= $29,000
xB+ $17,000

Thats $12,000 to spend on gas. 3500 gallons x 30MPG =

105,000 miles