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Posted on Mar 27, 2007 - 12:26am by John P. in Environment, Vehicles
Wow! Thanks to Debbie for passing this little gem along. I’m simply speechless. And to think we almost bought a Prius to be “green friendly”.
Now I’m glad we opted for a totally pimped out 06′ Honda Civic. That way we actually do have one of the most “green friendly” vehicles to offset my arguably-worse-than-a-Hummer 05′ Nissan Titan!
Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage – By Chris Demorro
The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.
Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.
The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius’s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.
However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn’t be writing this article. It gets much worse.
Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.
The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare.
“The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,†said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.
All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?
Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet.
When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer – the Prius’s arch nemesis.
Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,†the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles – the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.
The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.
So, if you are really an environmentalist – ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available – a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage – buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.
One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.
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Yeah …. yeah
but the price of gas still goes up pal :)
I will be glad when it reaches $10 per gallon
The only thing I have to add is this:
H2 Hummer over 100k miles would use 61,000 lbs of fuel (13 miles/gallon) and resulting pollution. I’m not following the 300k miles logic.
The Prius would use 18,000 lbs of fuel – a difference of 43,000 pounds of fuel over 100k miles.
According to http://www.infinitepower.org/calc_carbon.htm – this would be 32,000 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere.
Almost the same as two more Prius – maybe that is were the 300k comes from :)
Mob
then why does the prius only cost $23000 new and the hummer $57000 new, plus if you buy a prius you will save nearly $60000 over 10 years, between vehicle cost and gas savings
I don’t know where to start in debunking the erroneous information given in this article. The original news article that this information came from was a complete distortion of the facts at hand.
First Sudbury, Ontario did once have environmental problems but in the last twenty five years it has turned this around and has won numerous awards for its environmental improvements. This clean up was done up long before the Prius was even built.
Second battery recycling is a success story we should be proud of. When batteries are recycled 99% of the battery is reclaimed in an environmentally responsible manner. The materials in a Prius battery are so valuable and in high demand there is no reason that they would ever be deposed of in an improper way.
The energy usage figures are completely distorted to make the results come out. There are Prius that have gone over 300,000 miles with NO major problems or repairs. I would be surprised if any Hummers could say that.
Is the Prius the ultimate answer no? But it is a significant step to a better future.
Ok the prius batteries are made at a non environmentely freindly plant
their is a dead zone around that alone starts to take the prius down a notch. You can’t say the prius saves money and dosent pollute as much the batteries are shipped on a freighter those run on disel they pollute the earth black smoke comes out the stack lord knows what’s in that. It also takes more to charge a battery than it puts out. The electricty bills will also go up when you plug the damn thing in your wall also they catch on fire easy and if you can’t get out your screwed cause they won’t use the jaws of life cause it will fry the firemen because the electricity flows thru the car and their is no environentely friendly way to get rid of a toxic battery it’s toxic are you going to wave your magic wand and make it un toxic no cause it’s not possible
I am very curious about the math here. $3.25/mile over 100,000 miles translates to $325,000. A brand-new prius cost about $25,000, and 100,000 miles costs about 2200 gallons of gas. Assume $2.50/gl gas, we still have $325,000 – $25,000 – $5500 = $294,500 gap here. I wonder where the $294,500 money goes and who is paying for that? I don’t think maintain a prius for 10 yrs and recycle it can cost $294,500.
they don’t use nickel batteries anymore, and they definitely last waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over 100,000 miles. I’m sure there are other things you missed, but I don’t feel like reading that thoroughly ; )