Surely this must be a lie!!!!

[Norseman]

How can this be??? This has to be a lie!!!! It must be GM propaganda!!!!!!

 

HAHAHA!!! I’m more environmentally conscious by driving my Z71 then are those Prius Libs driving their beloved Toyotas. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 7, 2007

 

 

 

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-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.

 

 

 

 

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/p....asp?NewsID=188

[General Lee 01]

Nice!

[Draenor]

You still have to dispose all those batteries too, when there time comes.

[pwall]

Long live Suburban! ;)

[SoCalChris]

We had a Prius at our last job. When I took it, I only got around 40MPG. My dad's gas Civic gets higher mileage than that, and cost considerably less too. And not to mention the problems caused by the batteries when it comes time to dispose of them...

[GMSea97]

I swear I seen something on Tv like that once. I believe it. When I was in college I bought a 86' Vw golf (plain jane power nothing) to commute with and I got 30-40mpg easy with it and it was old with 200xxx on the original motor.

[Tucson_02Silverado]

As mentioned, in another few years what a hazardous waste heap that'll be. Prius to Yucca Mountain in sealed containers for a few thousand millienia...spent nuclear rods will probably be safer to handle in 100 years than the Prius'

 

Seriously doubt it's GM propaganda....even the current test fuel cell platforms take more energy today to create then they would save in even 10 years of consistent real world testing.

[PELICAN]

After reading that I want to get a hummer now.

[SilveradoLAX7]

Good find Norseman...I was out in the Bay area on business this weekend, I was blown away how many priuses were on the road, and they let them drive in the car pool lane with one person!

 

-Jay

[Norseman]

Seriously doubt it's GM propaganda

 

By the way I was being sarcastic about propaganda.

[GeoHawk]

He he. I just pulled up Sudbury on Google Earth to take a look. The plant is surrounded by yellowish, brown pools of water (and what looks like houses ). It's pretty nasty looking. Way to go Prius drivers.

[pwall]

I've been to Sudbury a couple of times.

A good friend of mine spent several years there with the RCMP.

He says it's a lot better now...the mining company has to 'repair' the soil and plants trees and stuff.

Even with that, the surroundings look like you're on the moon.

[PinkRacer]

In Canada, our government just enacted a $4000 levy on "Gas Guzzler" vehicles, and a $2000 rebate on "Fuel efficient" hybrid vehicles. So they're encouraging people to buy more Prius' and Civic hybrids, and less trucks. Interesting in light of this article.

[uh6077]

Interesting article but I hope you are all not naive enough to trust everything you read. Many of the facts are true but many are not. My wife and I own 5 vehicles.. My Silverado, a 02 Xterra 4x4, 98 Accord, 92 Toyota 4x4 and yes, a Civic Hybrid. We bought it because of the gas milage, not the environmental impact. My wife drive 3000 a month so she needs great gas mileage. Her Civic gets 51MPG in the winter and 56MPG in the summer. That is what the MPG readout says and also what we have calculated just to double check. Ours was about $4500 more than a regular Civic. We got $2000 rebate on last years taxes becuase we itemize. She has 60,000 miles on it already. We got it in Aug of 05. IT has almost paid for itself already. As far as the claim that the Prius takes more energy to produce than the Hummer.. I can not agree or disagree with that. I can say that it is impossible for the Hummer to leave a smaller footprint on the environment than the Prius or another hybrid. I see the author left out some things. The Hummer uses more than twice as much steel. I guess steel poduction does not harm the environment. The Hummer uses much larger tires and the heavy weight will make the tires last half as long as the Prius but rubber production is evironmentally friendly right?. The Prius does not have a leather option. Does the Hummer? Did I mention that the nig Hummer only gets around 11 MPG. As far as the batteries being a huge hazzard, I am not sure about that. I do know that the Civic hybrid battery is not very big at all. I think most people are under the impression that the motor battery is huge or something. So no the hybrids will not save the world but it is a start. I love the mileage it gets but I will not be getting rid of my Silverado anytime soon. Every house needs at least on truck Have you ever tried to haul 2000 lbs of stone with a Civic?