Posted on 08/25/2008 9:06:41 AM PDT by Publius804
Green With Envy: Prius Owners Smile as Neighbors Fume
Monday , August 25, 2008
By Meg Shannon
Every morning, as Lynn Schmidt walks out of her Long Island, N.Y., home, opens the door to her baby-blue Prius, waves to her grumbling neighbor and pulls out of the driveway, she has every reason to smile.
It's not just the 45 miles per gallon her gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle is getting. And it's not only that she can go three weeks without a fill-up.
It's also because that through her choice of automobile, Lynn is doing what she considers her share of being ecologically reasonable.
"Everyone should be concerned about the level of emissions," says Schmidt. "We all need to do our part and make changes for the better."
She's not alone. With skyrocketing oil prices, many owners of hybrid vehicles and practitioners of the "green" lifestyle are seeing their eco-friendly choices pay off.
But that's led to some grumblings from late adopters — and charges that the greener-than-thou are guilty of "eco-snobbery."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Inside of a month every Prius at the mall will look like someone drug a garden rake down its side ...
Will that same neighbor feel the same smugness when that big-ole’ battery needs replacing - and the environmental DAMAGE that will cause (plus the additional hit to the pocketbook).
And we won’t even bring up the additional recourses and energy it takes to produce that “hybrid” in the first place.
Ms. Schmidt assumes that her “grumbling” neighbor is envious of her car.
Perhaps she should look into her smug, holier-than-thou attitude as the source of his animosity?
The test of whether a hybrid truly saves money overall will be found in our free market system - will taxi companies adopt the Prius as the vehicle of choice? So far, the answer is no. The number of Priuses as a taxi are few and far between... but when you start seeing more hybrid taxis on the road, you will know that this is truly a cheaper way to drive overall, not just a fashion statement.
Prius Battery $5000 dollars with a mothly finance charge.
SUB battery $100 aprox. with no finace charge.
Don’t drive don’t spend money on gas in regular car.
Prius finance charges never stop regardless of use.
Batter will also have a disposal tax (oops)”fee contribution.”
The author is an ecconomic idiot.
My favorite part is when he talks about "The technologically-fascinated compulsives who obsessively drive 40MPH in the carpool lane to achieve a best score on that nifty 'high MPG' game installed in the dash."
ACtually - not cool at all - those tires won’t last 5 miles with the fender dragging on it with the wheel only 60% turned. I suspect the extra narrow clearance around the back tire will also result in ruined paint and tires...and likely body damage...
But other than that...
I know two prius owners and both are NOT in need of saving money for gas. The prius was a “statement” car.
If they wanted they could have bought a geo metro without the toxic batter waste but that would be too cheep an image for them.
They need an expensive car regardless of milage.
I find it odd that you people that use the battery disposal strawman don’t show the least bit of concern about all the other damn batteries that get disposed of. A hybrid battery is in essence 250 or so D-cell NiMH batteries.
NiMH batteries are classified as non-hazardous waste - unlike lead-acid and Li-Ion. So you just picked up on a talking point with no facts to back it up just like liberals do. You can buy a hybrid or not, you can like them or not; I don’t care.
Just quit making stuff up.
consumer reports had a very extensive article on the hybrids NOT being cost effective for the person OR the environment.
not making anything up.
read.
hybrids are hype.
Consumer Reports (the last place I’d go for automotive expertise incidentally), has nothing but conjecture to base whatever it’s conclusions are. Not coincidentally, that is the same basis used by global warming alarmists.
Hybrids are going to neither save nor doom the planet. I’m not going to debate you on this unless you grow up and quit using the same argument that the greenies use against nuclear power.
http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/editorial_item.asp?NewsID=188
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.
AND
Hybrid Vehicle Safety Hazards
(regarding electrocution hazard of hybrids)
as in no jaws of life due.
as in chemical spill [hazmat] before you can be rescued.
as in you must be hazmat scrubbed before you can enter the emergency room.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/hybrid_hazards.htm
The hybrid early adoptors are just for PC not for actual substance.
>Through a study by CNW Marketing ...
Not a very credible source.
“Will that same neighbor feel the same smugness when that big-ole’ battery needs replacing - and the environmental DAMAGE that will cause (plus the additional hit to the pocketbook).”
Kind of like the folks who want to replace our traditional power plants with nuclear, isn’t it?
Sure you're on the right website? I think you missed the turn to DU.
My best gal-pal has a Prius; she was “guilted” into it by her EnviroWeenie daughter. She HATES it and regrets buying it every day.
She takes her husband’s “old man luxury Buick” at every opportunity, LOL!
We’re driving some distance to see a play this coming Sunday; her treat for my birthday gift. I’ll bet you a donut she picks me up in the Buick! ;)
I’m green with envy.
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