By Alan Burke
At first, most people paid little attention. Strange creatures, they lived alternately on gasoline and pure electricity. But they were scarcely seen on American streets.
Until now.
The hybrid car, once an exotic vehicle, is enjoying a dramatic boost in popularity fueled by skyrocketing gas prices. Local sales figures show their numbers have nearly doubled in the past year. Spurring sales is the vehicles' promise of substantial gasoline savings as well as remarkable reductions in pollution by combining a conventional engine with a sort of super battery that, at times, is the only source of power used.
A hybrid car generates power when you put on the brakes, said Max Russell of Ipswich. He owns a hybrid Ford Escape, a small sport utility vehicle now getting him up to 36 miles to the gallon.
"I love it," he said. "Everybody ought to drive a hybrid to get a feel of what it's like to drive economically."
Economics led Russell to his hybrid — it cost more but drivers expect to save money in the long run if they put enough miles on it. Others are more drawn by the opportunity to cut emissions and help the environment.
"The demand for hybrid cars has never been greater in my 15 years in the business," said Dave Apotheker, who oversees Internet sales at Ira Toyota. "It's an absolute frenzy. ... People don't want to feel victimized by the gas prices."
Toyota sells four different hybrids, including a Lexus version. But the Toyota Prius is the signature hybrid, the first of its kind to make a dent in the American market. It sells for $24,000 to $28,000, said Apotheker, and gets 48 miles per gallon in city driving and 45 on the highway. (Unlike conventional cars, hybrids' highway fuel economy is lower than in city driving, where the electric engine does most of the work.)
It might take three to five years to make the purchase a bargain, Apotheker said, depending on how much driving you do. But that could improve dramatically in the future if gas prices go still higher.
Still, batteries can be a major problem. Supplying them has slowed production, and replacing them can cost thousands.
But there's no denying the motivational power of high gas prices.
"I can see next summer," said Apotheker. "The oil companies have it down to a science, and next summer prices could be five or six dollars a gallon."
Contributing to the frenzy, he said, is the fact that demand is currently outstripping supply "by about 10 to one. ... If we had 300 hybrids on the lot we would sell them all in a week."
Bob McNeil at Ipswich Ford has a similar experience with the hybrid version of the Ford Escape SUV, which sells for about $30,000, roughly $6,000 more than the conventionally powered model. Ford makes only 30,000 hybrid Escapes per year, with the bulk of them distributed elsewhere. Buyers here must wait as much as six months for their cars to be constructed and delivered.
"Ford is trying to expand as fast as they can," he says. A second hybrid, the Fusion, is scheduled to join the fleet. Meanwhile, a frustrated McNeil gets inquires from would-be buyers all the time. Mostly, he said, they get impatient and "They go somewhere else."
In the past, a buyer would have to own the car for five or six years, said McNeil, to make the purchase of a pricier hybrid economically worthwhile. But with gas prices at $4 per gallon, he believes it may take only half that time to realize a return on the investment.
But for those who are even less patient for their purchase to pay off, he said the compact Ford Focus, which sells for as little as $14,000, averages in the mid-30s in miles per gallon.
Similarly, Toyota's Yaris, a five-passenger car at half the price of a Prius, manages 29 miles per gallon in the city and 35 on the highway.
And Mike Garabedian, a salesman for Ira Subaru — a company that makes no hybrids at all — is quick to point out that the old, purely gasoline-powered technology can save too.
"A lot of the cars that we sell get 25 to 30 miles per gallon." And with New England's abundance of foul weather, Subarus are better suited to the region, he said. "This is not a hybrid area. It's still an all-wheel-drive (region)."
Rob Cerundolo, owner of Hillcrest Chevrolet in Salem, thinks he has the answer to that. Hybrid technology is now going into American-made, four-wheel-drive SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe he sells. And, beyond fuel efficiency, he touted hybrids as a cleaner ride.
"Zero emissions," he said. "No emissions at 20 miles per gallon."
But cleaner doesn't have to mean more expensive, he added. The Tahoe hybrid costs the same as the conventional Tahoe, Cerundolo said: "In the low $40,000s."
Cerundolo also celebrates the hybrid experience. You notice the difference when you start the car, he said "It doesn't make any noise. ... It just turns on."
Hybrids' appeal isn't all about economics, McNeil agreed.
"When it comes to hybrids a lot of people who bought them told me, 'I want my family and my neighbors to know I'm out there saving planet Earth.' Don't laugh. They wanted to make a statement."
In the future, environmental concerns might be more and more important. And hybrids are only an intermediate step, Cerundolo said, with hydrogen and all-electric cars on the horizon.
"It's a green world," says Cerundolo, who is toying with the idea of renaming his dealership "Go Green Chevrolet."
Hybrid ownership
Town April 2007 April 2008 Increase
Beverly 77 123 46
Boxford 28 42 14
Danvers 44 67 23
Hamilton 29 50 21
Ipswich 50 79 29
Manchester 29 40 11
Marblehead 97 145 48
Middleton 10 29 19
Peabody 51 81 30
Salem 76 138 62
Swampscott 36 65 29
Topsfield 19 31 12
Wenham 14 19 5
Total 560 909 349
Other info:
Statewide increase
Pre-2000 — 5,215
2000 — 738
2001 — 800
2002 — 824
2003 — 1,262
2004 — 1,519
2005 — 2,112
2006 — 3,584
2007 — 5,339
2008 — 1,826
Total as of this month — 23,219
Source: Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.
