Can’t we spread the hybrid goodies around?
IF I’D BOUGHT a Toyota Prius on Jan. 1, I could collect a $3,150 tax credit from the federal government, use carpool lanes in California, park for free in San Jose and receive a 10% break on insurance from St. Paul Travelers. But are dazzling goodie bags for hybrid-vehicle owners the best way to conserve energy -- and thereby cut gas prices -- in California?
Hybrids show that gas conservation can be kick-started by a coalition of the willing. But two things about drivers of hybrids stand out: They usually make more than $100,000 a year, and they drive less than average drivers. What’s more, California has more hybrid cars than any other state and, as of Jan. 4, it had only 80,580 registered -- out of 33 million vehicles on the road.
Subsidies for hybrids reward a few well-off drivers but don’t do much for the rest of us who try to conserve gas.
Consider the irony. If I spent $10,000 to $12,000 on a 2005 Toyota Echo, which gets 35 miles per gallon in the city and 42 mpg on the highway, I’d get better gas mileage than seven of the 11 hybrids eligible for federal tax rebates.
So imagine if the impulse to reward gas savers were extended to the average person. If California forgave new vehicle registration taxes for cars getting more than 30 mpg, we’d all benefit.
Putting just 200,000 cars that get 32 mpg on our roads could save 125 million gallons of gasoline this year alone, according to the California Energy Commission. The people saving money on gas would be those who drive a lot and can’t afford hybrids -- and the rest of the state would benefit from lower gas demand and cleaner air.
Extend the program for three more years and we’d save close to 500 million gallons a year.
The hybrid hullabaloo suggests that the rest of us are powerless to save gas, but that’s hardly the case. If only 30% of us regularly changed our air filters and oil, and maintained our tires better, we’d save as much as 700 million gallons of fuel a year. Saving gas is a lifestyle for hybrid drivers. We need to make it part of the state culture, something everyone participates in.
