Fuel Efficient Cars- Do They Really Save You Money?

Author: hireagreencar | Posted: 03.05.2012

A popular criticism of hybrid and fuel efficient cars goes like this: If your car is more fuel efficient, and you know you're saving money on gas, you'll be more inclined to drive more—thus negating any energy and carbon savings you had.

Called the 'Prius fallacy', but it has always appeared to be fundamentally unsound. The argument goes like this:

1: that Prius drivers drive more because their fuel costs are lower

and/or

2: that Prius drivers use money saved on fuel to purchase or participate in energy- & carbon-intensive goods and activities

That most people use their cars to commute and to run errands is undeniable – but what logic dictates that if your car was suddenly cheaper to refuel, you'd suddenly find more places to drive to, just because it was cheaper?. How many Prius drivers do you know that go joy-riding, just for the hell of it, that wouldn't have done so before with gas-guzzling cars?

It turns out that you’d be right to doubt the suspicious logic of the Prius fallacy. Recent research has crunched the numbers, and has found that the Prius Fallacy is, well, fallacious.

Their findings obliterate the Prius Fallacy’s first assumption. There is not really much difference in mileage by Prius owners and other drivers. On average both sets of drivers clock up around 21,000 Kms. per year. In fact, if you switch from an SUV to a Prius, then, according to the report, you'd save a whopping 2,000 litres of fuel a year.

As for the second part of the argument, it seems that Prius owners aren't spending the money they save on fuel much differently than anybody else. And whilst some of it inevitably goes towards carbon-intensive activities, that fraction is hardly enough to come anywhere close to negating the energy savings earned by the fuel efficient auto.

And the popularity of the Prius now extends to its availability with many car hire companies. So, if you are looking for a Prius to hire, or any other low cost, low carbon car hire, then you should look for your green car hire at hireagreencar.com. Their unique green car rental search system will show you which of a large choice of cheap car rentals available worldwide has the lowest emissions. You can compare car hire options which, thanks to the clear presentation, make it easy to select from the wide range available. And what’s more, hireagreencar.com will off-set the carbon emissions from your car rental free of charge, making it good for your pocket and good for the planet- it’s the best car rental comparison website for you and for the environment!

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