Originally Posted by volante

While the oil use of a car like this is greatly reduced, the energy consumed over the cars lifetime is actually FAR MORE than a normal car. What people don't realise is that it takes more energy to build a car than it will to run it for it's entire life, and cars like this require more energy to build than regular cars - for example, a Toyota Prius will, over it's lifetime, require more energy to build and run than a regular SUV.