[LogicDesigner]

“That Prius battery probably will set you back a few grand every few years when you replace it and dispose of the toxic waste it contains.”

Prius batteries are 100% recycled.

Forget those fears that hybrid and electric vehicles will result in landfills full of dead batteries.

When Toyota hybrid battery packs reach the end of their lives, every piece is recycled. And it's all because of a program launched a year ago by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. and its dealers.

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120102/RETAIL07/301029980/1147

Other automakers like Tesla and Nissan have battery recycling programs as well.

[Citizen Zed]

It seems making windmills and batteries is causing unprecedented damage to the environment. It is also too costly to be sustainable...

PBS Newshour: Are Rare Earth Minerals Too Costly for Environment?

[Citizen Zed]

"It currently costs GM "at least" $75,000 to build the Volt, including development costs, Munro said. That's nearly twice the base price of the Volt before a $7,500 federal tax credit provided as part of President Barack Obama's green energy policy.

Other estimates range from $76,000 to $88,000, according to four industry consultants contacted by Reuters. The consultants' companies all have performed work for GM and are familiar with the Volt's development and production. "

Reuters: GM's Volt: The ugly math of low sales, high costs

[Citizen Zed]

George F. Will: Fuzzy Climate Math...

"Speaking of Hummers, perhaps it is environmentally responsible to buy one and squash a Prius with it. The Prius hybrid is, of course, fuel-efficient. There are, however, environmental costs to mining and smelting (in Canada) 1,000 tons a year of zinc for the battery-powered second motor, and the shipping of the zinc 10,000 miles -- trailing a cloud of carbon dioxide -- to Wales for refining and then to China for turning it into the component that is then sent to a battery factory in Japan.

Opinions differ as to whether acid rain from the Canadian mining and smelting operation is killing vegetation that once absorbed carbon dioxide. But a report from CNW Marketing Research ("Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal") concludes that in "dollars per lifetime mile," a Prius (expected life: 109,000 miles) costs $3.25, compared with $1.95 for a Hummer H3 (expected life: 207,000 miles).