What are the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid cars?

Advantages:

• Hybrids help the environment by using less fuel
  
• Since an electric car runs off a battery charged from electricity rather than fuel from an internal combustion engine, it produces far less pollution than a conventional car as electric plants can more efficiently produce energy than internal combustion engines.

Disadvantages:

• Much slower acceleration times than a normally aspirated car. The Prius has 0 to 60 acceleration times in excess of 10 seconds, which about the same as a Honda Civic or other small car.
• Price. While the Prius delivers fuel economy in the mid-30s, it has a price premium to where you if you were to buy a similar sized car like a honda civic or a toyota carolla, you would have to drive the Prius for 6 years to make up the price difference between the Prius and the small car.
  
• Comfort. The Prius has been heavily criticized for it's lack of creature comforts and relatively inexpensive choices for interior appointments.
  
• Environmental Impacts. Few people have examined the best way to dispose of the batteries inside the hybrid cars. The batteries are highly toxic and would have significant environmental impacts. While the batteries are recyclable, none of the manufacturers has created an end to end solution for battery disposal.
• Maintenance on the electrical system must be done by a professional. Hybid batteries are different from gas powered vehicles. You can risk electrocution if attempted by yourself.

First answer by ID1182026892. Last edit by ColYoung. Contributor trust: 143 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 12 [recommend question]