Too Much NPR Hybrid Coverage

Perhaps I’ve just more finely attuned to this sort of thing because Dawn owns one; but has anyone else noticed that NPR’s has done a lot of stories about hybrids lately? It seems like I hear two to three a week….and on the most part they’re pretty bad.

I think they keep trying to cover it from different angles and I don’t understand why. Usually when they are talking about hybrids they are talking about the Prius. I’ve heard stories about how people mostly buy the Prius because it makes a statement, I think the point of that story was people buy because they want to be perceived as green. Basically Prius owners are hypocrites. I’ve heard people buy the Prius because they want to save on gas. Then they point out how long you’d have to drive the car in order just break even on the extra you spent on a hybrid. I’ve heard them do a story on how driving a Prius is a futile effort, because the amount of gas all hybrids owners together have ever saved doesn’t even amount to a single day of what the US consumes gas-wise. I heard that hybrids are now mainstream cars since they represented 3% of total sales last year…. 3% is mainstream?

This morning there was a story about converting a Prius into a plug-in Prius. I think they wanted to do a story on plug-in electric cars…..and they could only find a plug in Prius (I guess NPR wouldn’t pop for a Tesla). Then they went about pointing all the flaws in plug-in electric cars……but he was driving a plug-in hybrid. None of the faults apply to the plug-in hybrid….

It’s not that I’m upset that they aren’t claiming the Prius is the best car ever. If you want to tow something it’s not the car for you. If you think you’ll save a bundle on gas, that’s only true if you ignore the initial capital it takes to buy one. I think the Prius is a really good car, but I don’t think it is the end-all be-all of cars.

The story I haven’t heard, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they have done, is hybrids effect on emissions. That’s really the only place that hybrid cars really trounce normal vehicles. Even the hybrid SUVs that get the same gas mileage as the normal SUVs do better in the emissions department. Perhaps that’s not as interesting a story because it doesn’t involve image or pocketbooks.