Posted on 03/20/2007 6:14:59 PM PDT by Riodacat
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. Snip-------------------- 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at clubs.ccsu.edu ...
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Thanks,
AM
The Prius owners will just buy enough of carbon credits to make it all right. Problem solved.
I saw a bumper sticker on a Prius: "POLUTION IS ALSO A WMD".
Liberalism is a sickness and one of the main ingredients must be a sense of touchy-feely, good for nothing, "Look at me, I am superior to you because I make myself feel good". Or something to that effect. All emotion, no reality or common sense.
I am familiar with a LOT of hybrid owners. I have not met a single owner whose car isn't still on the road, except those who had their cars totaled in accidents.
The Toyota Prius will last hundreds of thousands of miles without replacing anything of value.
The Battery is warranted for 100,000 miles. Only ignorant people would suggest that the expected lifetime of a product is equal to it's warranty -- if that were the case, there'd be a lot of cars on the side of the road with 60,001 miles on them.
They also have the figures wrong on the amount of energy used to create the Prius, and the amount of pollution involved in initial construction of the battery packs.
Pluse, the batteries are nickel-metal hydride batteries, and are entirely recyclable.
Hate them if you like, but it's silly to make up stuff about them just to make yourself feel better (not the poster, the writer).
100,000 miles
vs.
300,000 miles
Nice accounting trick!
The study is a sham.
lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius
Note to idiot reporter:
300 vs. 100 is three times AS LONG, or two times LONGER.
Why does this same inaccurate piffle get posted day after day?
Hybrids are overhyped, sure. But this "comparison" isn't credible to anybody with an IQ over room temperature.
Some have questioned whether it really costs $325,000 per 100,000 miles. If it does who's paying it? That's a lot more than most people, even fairly wealthy people, pay for their houses in most places. Unless it's being subsidized by taxes it's hard to see how it can be true.
Yep - quite obvious, really, given the sticker prices on those ugly monstrosities.....("a fool and his money......")
At $3.25 per mile it would cost $325,000 to drive a Prius 100,000 miles! Does the author of this article think we are fools?
Liberals must >want< to be like sheep. All touchy-feely with only dire consequences in the end.
TO further illustrate the absurdity of the "study". According to the study, after 100,000 miles, a total of $325,000 dollars worth of energy will have gone into the Prius.
The Prius gets around 40 mpg, so over 100,000 miles will use about 2500 gallons of gas, at $3 a gallon that is $7500 in gas.
Assume the entire cost of all replacement parts is "energy cost". In 100,000 miles, you will replace the tires twice, at 400 bucks a set, thats about $1000.
Let's assume the entire cost of scheduled maintenance is "energy cost". The 30,000 checkup is $400 bucks, that's another $1200.
Let's say you replace one major part during the 100,000 miles (I have over 100,000 on my two cars, and have replaced nothing of value yet on either of them). Let's say that's another $2000.
The original cost is $25,000. So the total cost to the owner over 100,000 miles is 25,000+1200+7500+1000+2000=$37,700 dollars. Round up to $40,000.
According to the article, the total cost of energy expended for that privilege of owning the prius for those 100,000 was $325,000. But if you only spent $40,000 total, that means that, in energy alone, someone has subsidized you for $285,000 worth of energy.
Do you believe Toyota will pay you $285,000 to own their car?
BTW, the Hummer cost is what, $85,000. It gets say 15 mpg, over 325,000 miles that is 20,000 gallons of gas, or about $60,000 in gas. Assume you replace the tires every 50,000 miles, at 500 a set, that's another $3000. I don't know what the maintenance is, but let's say it's $2000 per 100,000 miles, that's another $6000.
Total cost, completely guessed at: $150,000. Their listed cost? about $620,000.
I don't believe you are going to spend $620,000 on your Hummer over the life of the car, even if it DOES last 325,000 miles.
Interesting, considering the warranty on the drivetrain on the synergy drive of a Prius extends to 100,000 miles. I thought only GM products expired the mile after their warranty!
I'd possibly believe it for virgin batteries, but how about recycled ones.
Was this study sponsored by the Detroit Auto Worker's Union?
Energy has a cost. That cost is built into the price of the things built with the energy. Unless you think the battery manufacturers are giving away their product, the real cost of energy to build and transport the batteries is built into their cost, and therefore built into the cost of the car.
The car could well be selling for less than the cost to build it, but not by more than $5000 or so. Toyota denies it.
There are not that many batteries, and they are standard nimh batteries, not unlike the millions being used to power all sorts of things these days. The battery in the Prius is essentially a pack of "D" cell batteries. There are 168 batteries in the pack.
You can buy the pack of batteries on e-bay for about $1400.
In the modern world, the cost of energy is pretty well reflected in the price of goods and services.
Now, the cost of POLLUTION is not captured in the cost of goods and services. If we did, we could largely solve our pollution problems through the free market. And it would be a good conservative principle for each person to pay the cost of the pollution generated to provide them the goods and services they use.
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