Interesting article comparing Hummers to Prius

[SB076]

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage
By Chris Demorro
Staff Writer

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-litre 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 sulphur 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.

Recieved this via email - its an interesting read especially considering petrol prices are tipped to climb

[prydey]

this has been around for a while and i was actually going to put a post up asking someone if they knew where i could find the article, so you've saved me a lot of trouble-cheers.

not sure how true it is but it makes for a good read and i'm sick of people raving on about how economical and environmentally friendly the damn thing is.

[theunfairadvant]

Thanks for the info as i didn't know that Toyota Prius
is actually more damaging to our Environment.

A XR6T or a TT would be a million times
better than a Toyota Prius.

[Unco]

Originally Posted by prydey

this has been around for a while and i was actually going to put a post up asking someone if they knew where i could find the article, so you've saved me a lot of trouble-cheers.

not sure how true it is but it makes for a good read and i'm sick of people raving on about how economical and environmentally friendly the damn thing is.

google is your friend: http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/edito...asp?NewsID=188

[Riksta]

Very interesting read.

I'm not a big fan of the Prius or hybrid cars.

[blk_frmnt]

A little more to think about:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto...2220.html?pg=1

[Jayden]

Originally Posted by blk_frmnt

A little more to think about:

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto...2220.html?pg=1

thanks for this. I had a feeling that other article had alot of BS probably helping someone elses own little agenda. Although Im not saying buy a Prius, surely nobody could really believe a prius does more environmental damage than than a Hummer? I mean seriously.

I am sick and tired of reading articles that push certain facts asside for a good story, its not real reporting its propaganda. It has fueled alot of ignorance and anger on so many subjects lately.

[blk_frmnt]

Originally Posted by Jayden

thanks for this. I had a feeling that other article had alot of BS probably helping someone elses own little agenda. Although Im not saying buy a Prius, surely nobody could really believe a prius does more environmental damage than than a Hummer? I mean seriously.

I am sick and tired of reading articles that push certain facts asside for a good story, its not real reporting its propaganda. It has fueled alot of ignorance and anger on so many subjects lately.

I know what you mean, but it's important to take into account EVERYTHING, when assessing the environmental damage. As the article said:

"Toyota concedes that there is more energy required in the materials production stage for its hybrids, but says that it is overwhelmingly made up by less energy used during its driving lifetime."

So certainly a Prius causes more damage to the environment during the buliding process, but there would be a point when the Hummer's additional fuel guzzling would overtake the Prius in total environmental damage. Similar sort of thing with hydrogen cars, as of today, producing the hydrogen to run the cars results in the release of more CO2 than the entire process of pumping, refining and burning the oil your standard car runs on.

[Nashy86]

If anyone is interested I have a 458 page research report on this, i believe it is the one many of these articles refer to for their data.

Its not a big file (4mb PDF format) if you want a copy PM me with your email adress & i can send it to u (took me ages to find when I was looking for it for uni an can't remember where I eventually found it)

[perrys]

Whatever they say, yanks are crazy about Hybrids. As gas approaching 3 USD a gallon, they bought 24,000 prius in May (yes 24K in a month), up a massive 184% from the same period last year. And guess how many camrys did they buy in May? Yes, 50K.
More here, http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=50211