Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiofn
I have heard your argument before about the batteries being expensive, mess for the land fills....but that is false.
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The production and recycling problems may be fixed in the future but right now the Hybrids are not as good a deal as they seem to be. The mileage may be slightly better than the most efficient gas-only cars but when you consider the "dust to dust" energy costs the overall energy costs per mile are much higher. Here are the energy costs per mile over the lifetime (dust to dust) of these vehicles:
Prius: $3.25/mile
Viper: $2.18/mile
Range Rover: $2.42/mile
Escalade: $2.75/mile
Scion: $.48/mile
These figures take into consideration the entire vehicle cycle from inception until disposal, not just the cost of ownership.
To produce a Hybrid battery nickle is mined at a controversial facility in Canada and shipped in huge container ships to a refinery in Europe. From there it is shipped to China to create nickle foam. Then it is shipped to Japan for assembly. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. The energy required for this process wipes out the small savings that the hybrid provides over the first 100,000 miles.
The bottom line is that a Scion or Aveo is much better for the environment right now than the feel-good cars embraced by the greenies. There isn't a single Hybrid in the
top 10 list of efficient cars.