Toyota Prius Case Study

There is a Toyota Prius Cab in Yellowknife operated by Kaad Mukhtaar, under City Cab
LTD. This Case Study will look at his findings of how well the car functions as a Taxi,
how well it performs in Yellowknife, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, the cost avoided
by purchasing a Prius compared to other taxi vehicles, and also the green house gases
saved by driving a fuel efficient vehicle.

The Toyota Prius is a Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). A Hybrid electric vehicle combines
a battery-powered electric motor with a conventional internal combustion engine. By
combining electric power with internal combustion greater fuel efficiency can be
achieved. The Energuide rating for the Toyota Prius for city driving is 4.0 L/100 km 1.

After interviewing Kaad, it was found that the Toyota Prius has no problems functioning
as a taxicab. Kaad has not run into any problems with the vehicle getting around town in
the summer or winter, starting the vehicle, using the vehicle outside of city limits, and the
vehicle has enough power for everyday road use.

After researching the mileage of taxi drivers in Yellowknife per year it varied from
40,000 km/year – 80,000 km/year depending on the driver. The most common mileage
driven by the taxi drivers in Yellowknife was 50,000 km/year.
Using the Energuide rating from the Natural Resources Canada Office of Energy
Efficiency1 it was found that the Toyota Prius outperformed all of the taxicabs currently
in use in Yellowknife. (Note that the actual fuel used in Yellowknife would be somewhat
higher because no vehicles achieve these rating during Yellowknife winters.)

By comparing the Canadian manufactures suggested retail price (MSRP) 2,3,4 the Prius is a
higher cost to buy than the other vehicles listed below. All of the prices for the vehicles
are the basic vehicle cost with no additional options. Even though these vehicles are
cheaper to buy, the Prius pays for itself by consuming less fuel. The payback (see Chart
4) on the additional investment varies from 1 year or less for most common cabs to 4 –
1/2 years for a Corolla. If a used vehicle was bought for $15, 000 and had a fuel
economy of 13.3 L/100 km (a conservative fuel efficiency for an older used vehicle) it
would take 1.78 years for the investment in the Prius to pay for itself.

Chart 1: Total Fuel Cost for vehicles after 50 000 km.

Cost of Fuel per Year

$12,000

$10,000

$8,000
Cost ($)

$6,000

$4,000

$2,000

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Chart 2: Carbon Dioxide emitted after 50 000 km.

Carbon Dioxide per Year

20000

15000
Carbon Dioxide (kg)

10000

5000

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Chart 3: Canadian Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of Vehicles

Vehicle Cost

$30,000
$25,000
$20,000
MSRP ($)

$15,000
$10,000
$5,000
$0
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Chart 4: Vehicle Comparison

GHG
Fuel Cost eliminated
used Cost of avoidance by using Vehicle
Energuide (L) in GHG Fuel used by using Toyota Cost
Type of city rating Engine 50,000 emitted in 50,000 Toyota Prius (kg (MSRP) Years
Vehicle (L/100 km) size (L) km. kg CO2 km. Prius CO2) (CAD) Payback
2008
Toyota
Prius 4.0 1.5 2000 4920 $3,040.00 $0.00 0 $27,600 0.00
2008
Toyota
Corolla 7.8 1.8 3900 9594 $5,928.00 $2,888.00 4674 $14,565 4.51
2008
Toyota
Camry 9.5 2.4 4750 11685 $7,220.00 $4,180.00 6765 $25,695 0.46
2008
Chevrolet
Impala 11.5 3.5 5750 14145 $8,740.00 $5,700.00 9225 $25,695 0.33
2008
Chevrolet
Malibu 9.6 2.4 4800 11808 $7,296.00 $4,256.00 6888 $22,995 1.08
2008
Dodge
Grand
Caravan 13.3 3.8 6650 16359 $10,108.00 $7,068.00 11439 $26,495 0.16
2008 Ford
Crown
Victoria 14.1 4.6 7050 17343 $10,716.00 $7,676.00 12423 $25,196 0.31

2008
Pontiac
Grand Prix 11.8 3.8 5900 14514 $8,968.00 $5,928.00 9594 $26,230 0.23
2004
Chrysler
Intrepid 11.0 2.7 5500 13530 $8,360.00 $5,320.00 8610 $21,885 1.07

Reference:
[1] http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/tools/compare/compare-search-one.cfm
[2] http://www.importcartocanada.info/faq/canadian-vs-us-2008-vehicle-msrp-prices/
[3] http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2004-dodge-intrepid.htm
[4] http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-
bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/wa/vp?vp=Home.Vehicles.Pricing&language=english