Cub Driver wrote in message . ..
Same for the "new" gas-electric hybrids. Yes, you get 60 miles to teh
gallon as long as you don't count teh energy stream required to get the "top
off" electricity to the vehicle and the extra energy required to manufacture
the hybrid side of the vehicle in the first place. Well, o.k., the newest
hybrids are probably right at break even now.

I understand that the battery bank in the gas-electrics like the Civic
have to be replaced at five years, so that's a measure of what the
hybrid side costs. (The car itself is really rather inexpensive.)

Where did you hear that?

Just because the warranty on the battery pack runs out in 8-10 years,
doesn't mean that the battery automatically needs replacing. (I'll
skip over that you can just replace a bad cell, rather than the entire
pack...) I have not heard of massive battery replacements for the
1998 Prius (originally sold only in Japan, now showing up used
elsewhere), but the battery technology has greatly improved from that
older model. (2004 Prius is on the 3rd generation)

Just because a bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, it doesn't
automatically mean that the bumpers will fall off or stop protecting
you in an accident either...