For me, it simply comes down to money out of my pocket. I’ve run the numbers several times over the years and never found an example that had a decent ROI. But here’s a study that concludes that over 5 years, 13 of 33 hybrid models had a lower cost of ownership than the equivalent gasoline model.
http://vincentric.com/Home/IndustryReports/HybridAnalysis.aspx
I keep my cars longer than 5 years, so this analysis appears to be incomplete. It doesn’t look like differences in maintenance costs (if there are any significant differences) or the cost of battery replacement is included. For those that trade within the 5 year period, it would be good to know if there is any difference in resale value.
