I'll start out here by saying the if you're buying a hybrid for environmental reasons, this discussion is meaningless.

If you are buying for the purpose of saving money, I think things become very situational and speculative. For example, how many miles do you drive per year? What is gasoline going to cost in 2011 (affects your savings and the resale value)? What will the REAL battery replacement costs be (manufacturers are being extra nice right now for marketing reasons), and what will the real life of a battery be? Will you get HOV lane privs, and if so, how much time (time = money) will that save you?

I think most subjects are just too complicated and situational for a short magazine article to address properly, and I think the current tax incentives make hybrids a reasonable "bet" for most circumstances.