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There are many factors to consider when buying a new car: price, miles per gallon, environmental impact, maintenance, personal taste and more. The availability of hybrids complicates this decision even further for many people.

This Excel spreadsheet exists to help you organize your thinking as you consider the purchase of a hybrid or conventional vehicle. Car purchase decisions are highly personal, and there are no right or wrong answers to be determined from using this tool. In the end, you may have excellent reasons for choosing a car which will cost you more; this tool should help you explore several different aspects of your decision.

How it works

1. Enter information in the yellow cells. As you do so, results are shown in the pink cells and in the graph at the right.
2. The tool calculates differences in costs of ownership and operation and differences in greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Experiment with various scenarios and see how the graph responds.

Download the tool now (.xls) or learn more about key input factors below.

Input factors

These are the fields (shaded yelllow) you can alter in the tool.

Car pricing and performance assumptions

• Purchase price of conventional car—default value is set at $19,000
• Purchase price of hybrid car—default value is set at $24,000
• Amount of down payment if financed—default value is set at $5,000
• Interest rate charged on car loan—default value is set at 5%
• Availability of an income tax credit on a new hybrid—see this IRS page to determine if the model you are considering is eligible for this credit; default value is set at $1,000
• Cost of battery service in year 8—default value is set at $2,000
• Miles per gallon of gas expected for the conventional car—default value is set at 32
• Miles per gallon of gas expected for the hybrid car—default value is set at 45
• Miles of annual driving expected—default value is set at 15,000

Gasoline price and discount rate assumptions

• Price of gasoline in the first year or average gasoline price for the 15-year life of the car—default value is set at $2.50
• Rate of gas price inflation expected (enter 0, if setting average gas price for 15 years)—default value is set at 10%
• Discount rate you consider appropriate for your money—This number represents the rate of return you expect on your money; default value is set at 6%.

Ready to get started? Download the tool (.xls).

more information

What do my results mean?

More on energy tax credits

Still have questions? Contact Extension educator Douglas Tiffany at tiffa002@umn.edu or 612-625-6715.