Studies Support Green Transportation

January 7, 2007 – Vol.11 No.42

STUDIES SUPPORT GREEN TRANSPORTATION.

In the battle to convince people, government and industry that greener transportation is the way to go, studies and surveys from reputable organizations are helping hands.

Here’s a few of the latest.

Case one: The US would be more energy independent and cut its greenhouse gas emissions if more people used public transportation and more transit capacity was built.

The study: The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) says that public transportation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline every year in the US and people who use it benefit too: Households that are likely to use public transportation reduce annual expenses by $6200 per year, more than they pay for food.

The study, Public Transportation and Petroleum Savings in the US: Reducing Dependence on Oil, is available at http://www.apta.com/ or http://www.publictransportation.org/

Case two: How much interest is there in buying alternative fuel vehicles, and what is the preferred technology?

The survey: A joint poll from the Associated Press (AP) and AOL of 1,004 adults and 932 current or future car owners revealed that 70-percent would consider buying an alternative fuel vehicle. Hybrids were the top choice at 34-percent, ethanol-fueled next at 16-percent, hydrogen 11-percent, and electric plug-in 10-percent. Almost half of those - 47-percent - said that concern for the environment was the main reason for buying an alternative fueled vehicle.

But all is not that rosy for alt-fuel vehicles. Only 38-percent said alternative fuels were a very or extremely important factor in ultimately choosing an automobile.

Case three: Hybrid cars save money in the long run despite their high upfront costs.

The survey: IntelliChoice.com, a source for automotive ownership cost and value analysis, found that twenty-two hybrid vehicles currently on the market save their owners more money than other, near-equal vehicles in their respective classes.

The study used the 5-year expected cost of ownership of each hybrid vehicle based on the average cost of all vehicles in each class. They considered depreciation, fuel cost, finance costs, insurance, repairs, maintenance and applicable state fees in total expected cost of ownership valuation.

Against the expected cost they considered the 5-year actual cost - what people were really paying - and found that in all 22 cases the actual cost was less than the expected cost. Hybrids were saving people money.

The reasons other than less fuel consumed? Less than expected depreciation, high resale value and low maintenance costs.

(For example Toyota’s Prius was the best performer with a 5-year expected cost of $33,305 but an actual 5-year cost of $19,897. All of the others had significant savings as well.)

Does the study have some faults? Certainly. IntelliChoice includes the US Federal Tax Credit for the hybrid to bring down the total cost of the vehicle. Yet the generous $3400 tax credit for the Prius, for instance, has already been slashed. Tax credits for other hybrids will also drop as units sold in the US pass the 60,000 threshold. See The Hype Over Hybrids at IntelliChoice at http://www.intellichoice.com/ .