We made it! 1/3 million kilometers! This is my beloved 2006 Toyota Prius. I bought it in 2010 when it was 4 years old with 90,000 km on it. Since then, I've put more than 240,0000 km on it. Many people wonder if it costs more to maintain a hybrid, and the simple answer is yes. However, let me get into the details.
In the almost 8 years that I've had the car, there were a total of 4 repairs that I had to make. First, the front wheel bearings had to be replaced at 163,000 km. Then, the hybrid battery started failing at 232,0000 km, and I opted to have it rebuilt for $1000. This was a mistake, because after a bit more than a year, it started failing again. This time, I decided to have it replaced for $3000. Around the same time, the front bearings went again. So, in total, I spent around $5200 + tax in repairs. Then, there were other regular maintenance stuff like brakes, 12V battery, etc. So, the real difference between a non-hybrid car and my Prius would be the battery repairs of $4000. If I had been smarter about replacing the battery, my hybrid repairs would have costed only $3000 (the battery is still going strong now).
That's the cost side. Now, to the savings. I had a Matrix before I bought the Prius. So, if I had kept that car, let's see what the savings would be like. On the Matrix, I believe I averaged about 8.5 L/100 km. On the Prius, I averaged about 5.2 L/100 km. So, after 240,000 km, assuming the average gas price is $1.20/L, I've saved a total of $9504. This is compared to ~$4520 in hybrid related repairs. The net is $4984 savings, plus whatever environmental benefits by burning 7920 L less gasoline or producing roughly 42000 lbs less CO2! I'd say that's pretty good!
However, the cost of a hybrid is more than a similar non-hybrid car. Luckily, I bought the car used and it cost me < $15000 (no tax paid due to a government rebate at the time). I believe a Matrix of the same age would have cost around $12500 but I would have had to pay taxes on it, which would bring it to within $1000 of the cost of the Prius. So, in the end, I've come out on top both financially and ethically! I think this was a pretty good decision.
So, the natural next step for me would be to go full electric. As some of you know, I have a reservation for a Tesla Model 3. Tesla recently updated the delivery timeline and they are now forecasting mid-2018 for delivery. It's been just some idea for the past 1.5 years but now it's becoming very real. It's a bit surreal, in fact. It will be the first new car that I will have bought (because I hate the depreciation of cars in their first 3 years). However, the $14000 Ontario rebate is pretty darn good to pass up. The fact that it happens to be quicker than a Ferrari Testarossa in 0-60 mph time is also pretty awesome! Lastly, as well, I just want to fall asleep at the wheel! ;)