Why Give a Hybrid Car Tax Rebate?

To encourage purchase of hybrid cars the United States Government has instituted a tax rebate program for those who buy a hybrid vehicle. The actual tax rebate amount will depend on the fuel efficiency of the hybrid car when compared to a gasoline powered car from the 2002 model year that's in the same weight class. The higher the increase in fuel efficiency, the higher the tax rebate.

Does Buying Hybrid Save Money?
Because hybrid vehicles cost more than conventionally powered cars the tax rebate can potentially even the playing field for hybrid cars by making up the difference. When adding in the cost of gasoline saved over the lifetime of the car and the increased resale value of a hybrid car you may actually come out ahead buying a hybrid even without the tax rebate.

However, hybrid cars are substantially more complex and require different and more expensive parts than conventional vehicles so, depending on how reliable your hybrid turns out to be, the increased repair and/or maintenance costs will eat into that savings.

Effect on the Environment
The obvious goal of this program is a social one - to give incentives to people to reduce pollution by driving hybrid gas/electric vehicles. The tax rebate attempts to remove the cost barrier as a negative to driving hybrid and prompt more people to consider purchasing a hybrid vehicle and, through that increased potential demand, prompt car manufacturers to increase production and expand their offerings of hybrid models.

One thing often missing in this discussion is where the electricity for these fuel cells comes from. Just because electricity is a non-polluting fuel type doesn't mean that the production of electricity is, itself, non-polluting. Despite the proliferation of water and nuclear power plants, the majority still burn fossil fuels like coal to produce electricity.

Granted, the production of electricity likely produces less pollution, in aggregate, than producing similar power through burning gasoline but it's difficult to argue that electricity is a pollution-free fuel source and a power source that should be relied on in future hybrid technologies.

Planning for the Future
An often cited benefit of the space race in the 1960's is the technological advances that came from researching and implementing a successful visit to the moon. Although these advances originally benefited the space program, many filtered down to more consumer-oriented applications and the general public.

It can be argued that providing tax rebates for hybrid vehicles serves the same purpose in the 21st century. By increasing demand through purchase incentives, the government is prompting increased supply from manufacturers and inventors who will produce ever more efficient and cost-effective hybrid vehicles.

Although gas/electric hybrids may not be the perfect long-term solution to our eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, giving incentives for their production should lead to perfected technologies that will eventually make that goal a reality. Just like Velcro made it's way from an original application on space suits down to our consumer tennis shoes, it's difficult to tell how advances made during hybrid vehicle research will make our lives easier only a few years into the future.

Jack is a freelance author with a wide variety of interests and an equally wide variety of published articles. Check out his latest website about large format copiers at http://www.largeformatcopiers.net/.

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