Update: Will High Oil Prices Drive Hybrid and Electric Car Sales?

In my blog entry of Tuesday, titled Will High Oil Prices Drive Hybrid and Electric Car Sales? , I wrote this: "Most people would rather buy a less expensive, but fairly fuel efficient, non-hybrid. In fact, when costs are compared over any period of time, hybrids always lose to highly fuel efficient conventional vehicles. Obviously, the people buying hybrids aren't very good at math."

Well, its not often that the New York Times is in concert with this blog. But, on the topic of cost effectiveness of hybrids and electrics, we're in sync. A day after I published the aforementioned entry, the Times published a news article titled: Payoff for Efficient Cars Takes Years. In that commentary, the author noted that it would literally take 27 years for a Chevy Volt purchaser to breakeven on fuel savings versus the cost of buying and operating Chevy's gasoline powered cousin of the Volt: the Chevy Cruze. As part of that same article, the Times published this chart showing the breakeven points of many hybrids and electrics as compared to their cheaper gasoline powered siblings.

Like most everything green, the cost benefits are totally out the window.