Are Hybred Cars good on the environment, or do they do more bad than good.?

Question

I thought the Hybred cars were a good idea when they started getting popular, but I was told some disterbing news the other day. Someone told me, that it took so long for them to "dispose of" those cars at the end of there life, and it was so bad for the environment the way they had to dispose of them, that they did more bad than they did good. Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks

Answer 1

Why not use the "World's Cleanest Car" instead?

"BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.

The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000."

Answer 2

They are nothing more than fancy gas guzzlers with some expensive and exotic batteries is all.

Answer 3

the real reasion not to get one is,,they take 8 years to pay off the higher price in gas saving,,and on the road most mechanics will not work on the,,,dealer only  @80 to 100 dollars per hour.mostly they r a feel good...hay  look at me im green thing..

Answer 4

They are a start toward using less fuel based on oil.

In engineering, you learn that every solutions just creates another problem, that then has to be solved.

I don't believe anyone has yet done a FULL evaluation

of all the costs and benefits to the environment of hybrid cars.

Answer 5

There's a lot of myth, urban legend, and misinformation out there on hybrid vehicle batteries and vehicle production, thanks to a flawed marketing paper by CNW and a poorly researched student newspaper article that keep getting quoted...

Anyhow, I suggest reading:

Prius Versus Hummer: A Nickel for Your Thoughts:  http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200711/...

Battery Toxicity:  http://www.hybridcars.com/battery-toxici...

Hummer versus Prius: "Dust to Dust" Report Misleads the Media and Public with Bad Science:  http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_...

Prius Versus HUMMER: Exploding the Myth:  http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_New...

Giving Directions: No, the Hummer Actually Isn't More Energy Efficient Than A Prius, Let's Put This "Debate" To Rest:  http://www.betterworldclub.com/articles/...

Heard the One About the Hummer?:  http://www.toyota.com/html/dyncon/2007/s...

Usually the mythic "article" from The Mail on the nickel in the hybrid cars' NiMH batteries is quoted from a now retracted article.   The retraction that clears up this bit of misinformation is at:  http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live...

(They were using data from the early 1970's about the INCO-Sudbury nickel mine, which was more than 20 years before the first hybrids needed NiMH batteries, and the plant has greatly cleaned themselves up and reforested the area since then.  If you were to add up the amount of nickel in the million+ hybrids sold since 1997, the total is less than 1% of the world's annual nickel production (far more nickel is used for stainless steel, for example).)

As for the batteries themselves:

The lead-acid (Pb-A) 12v accessory batteries in hybrids tend to be smaller than those found in every traditional gasoline vehicle.   Recycling programs are in place for traditional lead-acid batteries.

All the hybrids on the market use NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) batteries, which contain no heavy metals (so they're not hazardous waste, like the Pb-A batteries), and are easily recycled. Often they'll have labels on the packs themselves listing who to contact to recycle them, and often there's a nice cash bounty reward as well.  (Toyota offers $200, with info on a label on the hybrid battery pack itself, besides the emergency response guides and dismantling guides, for example.)

The hybrid batteries in the currently available hybrid vehicles are usually listed by the manufacturer to last the lifetime of the vehicle, and have long warranties (not pro-rated!, usually 8 years/80,000 miles to 10 years/150,000 miles, depending on model and where purchased) to cover it. So far, hybrid battery replacements are VERY uncommon, and rarely out of warranty. Pricing is much better when buying a used unit from a wrecked vehicle (much less than $1000), and not paying dealer-inflated rates/labor prices.

With the exception of the hybrid system, most of the available hybrids on the roads are just an ordinary gasoline model with a hybrid system slapped in it (such as the Toyota Camry/Highlander, Honda Civic/Accord, Saturn Vue/Aura, Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner/Mazda Tribute, Nissan Altima, etc.).  So, the rest of the car is recycled just like its conventional cousin.  The hybrid-only models, the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, are made from highly recycleable materials (steel and aluminum bodies, for example), so should be recycled at end of life just like any other car.

Answer 6

My "Gas Guzzler" gets 60 miles to the gallon, highway and city.

How about yours?

Answer 7

i do know that the batteries on which they run are difficult to dispose of, and they have a lot of them.

Answer 8

Hybrid cars are twice as complex as regular cars, with only 10% savings in fuel.

So when it comes to maintenance costs, you do the math.

The industry wants us on hybrids so we stick to using gasoline for at least 100 more years before we cut over permanently to electric.

Electric cars are shunned because doing so would hand over the fossil fuel economy to the coal industry.

Answer 9

actually they have biofuel cars which run on vegetable oil. but this is not so much a good idea. Corn is not a good crop to make bio-fuel from. The growing, harvesting and conversion to ethanol takes far too much energy. Sweet Grass is a far better alternative. It can be grown on marginal land without pesticides or fertilizer. Its conversion is 500 times as efficient than corn. The government is already subsidizing the ethanol production even though it's bad for the environment as well as the economy. Now everything in the corn process will cost more and that's just about every type of food we eat these days. What a shame...

Answer 10

They are much better for the environment than regular gas cars.

"Someone told me, that it took so long for them to "dispose of" those cars at the end of there life"

That doesn't really make any sense.  Even if it were true, why would the amount of time it takes to dispose of them make any difference?

"and it was so bad for the environment the way they had to dispose of them, that they did more bad than they did good"

No, that's simply wrong.  The only significant difference between a hybrid and a regular gas car in terms of their disposal is the battery.  But hybrid batteries are fully recyclable.

"Q: Are hybrid batteries recyclable?

GS: Absolutely. In fact, Toyota pays a bounty to dealers who recover them from damaged vehicles. Additionally, our engineers are studying the possibility of remanufacturing these batteries."

http://www.toyota.com/html/hybridsynergy...

So whoever told you that doesn't know what he's talking about.

Answer 11

they are said to be good for the environment but they can create some other problems too

Answer 12

They are about the same as any other car. My Honda does better on mileage.

   I think what he is referring to is to recycle the batteries . It is not a problem as they presently recycle millions of auto batteries.