Is The Free Ride Over? Hybrid And EV Sales Tumble After Incentives Die Out And Gas Prices Fall

The free ride is over, but it just shows that demand was artificial in the first place.

Yeah because individuals aren't motivated to reduce fuel use the way entire countries at large may be when it comes to long term results. If it becomes less convenient and/or more expensive to have a vehicle that uses less fuel, then what little motivation there may have been on an individual level can disappear entirely.

In other words, if the goal really IS to reduce fuel consumption on a national scale, then "demand" should have nothing to do with it, and sure enough it apparently didn't.

For real, the fact that states need to take $200 yearly from hybrid/ev owners shows the dire straits our infrastructure budgeting is in. Shit's crumbling and it's cause the hybrid owners aren't paying their fair share? We should be embarrassed.

The technology never caught up to the phony media hype.

You can't both raise Americans' taxes and at the same time ask them to spend $300 more than they're accustomed to on a car payment for these cheap-looking, rough-riding 'hybrid' cars.

90% of air pollution is caused by only 25% of vehicles. Semi-trucks, dirty old cars, gas-guzzzlers. THESE are the problem. Not your neighbor's 4-cylinder Nissan. Politicians try to dupe us into thinking WE are the problem. WE are not the problem. YOU are the problem, for not enacting stricter regulations limiting the emissions of diesel trucks and gas-guzzlers.

randy3023: Just to add to your case, building are responsible for more emissions (heating and A/C) than cars in North America, yet all the hoopla is focused on hybrid cars as being our environmental saviors.

Firstly, it's a simple cost/benefit story. Example: A diesel engine option costs more on a car or SUV than a gasoline engine, but it saves fuel. What's the cost per mile for both options, and how far do you have to drive before the more expensive option pays for itself and starts saving you money? Those are huge questions, but they're crucial to the consumer equation.

Secondly, North Americans have never known the true cost of hybrids because the government has been subsidizing them (i.e., borrow money for a huge Chinese bank, give it to hybrid dealers to reduce the retail price, and send the bill to the taxpayers). Even so, the cost/benefit analysis in the previous paragraph shows that many owners won't save money by driving a hybrid. This truth is amplified when (a) gas prices go down, and (b) taxpayer subsidies go down or go away.

I find it interesting that in countries who have crazy high prices for fuel (E.G., UK is 2.3 X US price, http://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/), they turn to small, fuel-efficient gasoline (petrol) or more often diesel engines than hybrids because -- no surprise -- they're less expensive on a cost per mile basis than hybrids.

My cost per mile with my 2014 Passat TDI is a little over 6 cents. My previous gas car (Tiguan, so not exactly the same class) was about 16 cents per mile. Since diesel is (finally) at or less than RUG in price, that translates into about $1500 per year fuel savings for my amount of driving. Drive more per year, the savings is even higher.

Since the diesel "premium" at purchase was $2100 ($31,295 to $33,395), it paid for itself in less than 18 months. Couple that with the higher resale value for the TDI model (for mine right now according to NADAGuides it's $2125, I'm already ahead.