Hybrids not so clean afterall?

Question

Did you know that the factory that produces a hybrid car's battery adds more pollutants to the air than if you were to drive a regular car? Driving a hybrid not only doesn't save the trees, it also gives you less power (unless it's a Lexus).

Answer 1

Your information is incorrect on many levels.

1) Hybrid battery production does not pollute.

This myth is based on a single nickel plant (hybrid batteries are currently nickel metal hydride) which had been polluting the surrounding environment decades before hybrids were even invented, and has since cleaned up its act.

"In fact any damage occurred more than thirty years ago, long before the Prius was made. Since then, Inco has reduced sulphur dioxide emissions by more than 90 per cent and has helped to plant more than 11 million trees.

The company has won praise from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and environmental groups. Sudbury has won several conservation awards and is a centre for eco-tourism."

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live...

2) That pollution was not carbon dioxide, which is the main greenhouse gas emission produced by cars.

3) What the heck do hybrids have to do with saving trees?

4) Hybrids are quite powerful if you need them to be, because they have 2 engines.  Check out the link below for Motor Trend's Prius handling and road test.

"The Prius is entertaining from behind the wheel, too. At the test track, we measured a 0-to-60-mph time of 9.8 seconds. Aided by its instantly available torque, the Prius feels swifter. "Impressive performance, with unexpectedly quick acceleration," notes an entry in the logbook."

*edit* You are incorrect again.  The Yaris goes 0 to 60 in 10.7 seconds.  The Civic does it in 10.4 seconds, and the Corolla in 9.5.  In other words, it's comparable to other cars in its class.  These are sedans, not sports cars.

http://www.toyoland.com/cars/yaris.html

Answer 2

<sigh>  more untruths repeated.  I suggest reading:

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:

http://www.betterworldclub.com/articles/...

Usually the mythic "article" from The Mail on the nickel in the hybrid cars' NiMH batteries is quoted from a now retracted article.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...

Hybrid battery replacements aren't all that common, and on some models very rare. (The hybrid battery is designed to last the life of the car.) In the US, the hybrid battery packs are usually warrantied for 8 years/80,000 miles or longer (depending on manufacturer and if an AT-PZEV model in a CA emission state (10 years/150,000 miles). Full warranty, NOT pro-rated.

Meanwhile, here's the 2004 Toyota Prius Green Report (life cycle assessment):

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/k_forum/tenji...

(you'll need to download the Japanese fonts for your PDF reader inorder to read it, but the entire document is written in English. note that this was published well before the Inco-Sudbury "article" and CNW "report.")

Over the lifespan of the Prius, when compared to a comparable mid-sized gasoline vehicle, the Prius comes out ahead in the lifecycle assessment (LCA) for airborne emissions for CO2, NOx, SOx, HC, but actually does worse for PM (thanks to the material and vehicle production stages). Lifespan is given as 10 years use/100,000km. The CO2 break-even point for the 2004 Prius compared to this unnamed gasoline vehicle is given at 20,000km. (more CO2 is emitted during Prius production, but the Prius makes up for it over it's driven lifetime.)

Another neat thing is that the Prius is one of the first uses of

Toyota's Eco-Plastic (plastic made from plants, as opposed to

petroleum products). The battery is recycleable (NiMH), as is much of

the car (steel and aluminum body, for example).

The worst emissions of any of the hybrids out to my knowledge is ULEV.  Many of them are AT-PZEV in CA emission states (zero evaporative emissions and SULEV).

I don't know of any car/truck that can save trees.  Usually, trees are cut down to make room for roads, and are often struck down in accidents.  The only way vehicles can save trees is if their owner buys from a carbon offset program that plants trees for them or otherwise protects a forested area.

The problem with today's marketed vehicles is that people buy far more horsepower than they need.  When it takes you < 20hp to cruise on the highway, what's the point of having a 250+hp vehicle?  Most hybrids take this into account, and downsize the gasoline engine to save fuel, and use the electric motor(s) to supplement power (in the form of the much more needed high torque).  Most manufacturers have tuned their hybrid systems to give high fuel efficiency and low emissions, but some have decided to tune it to give high performance (hp+torque) and low emissions (with little fuel economy improvement).  Lexus is the only manufacturer that still has performance hybrids - Honda discontinued its Accord hybrid (performance tuned) in 2007 because of low sales.

Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races!

Answer 3

honestly i think that hybrids are getting less reliable and getting less MPG ....if you look at the hybrids from a couple years ago they actually get better Mpg than the new ones...these small kia's and stuff also get around the same mpg without all the batteries...

Answer 4

energy cannot be destroyed nor created it only transform into another. rate of pollutants is inevitable as to rate of human population.

only those car makers make the benefit through advertising.not the environment.

Answer 5

Actually most full life cycle analyses found that the battery manufacture produced less pollution than a car that uses extra fuel would have.

In terms a power a Prius can accelerate rather well, don't look at just the power ratings because they are misleading, an internal combustion engine will only get its full power close to the redline while an electric motor can be running at full power at 0 rpm, in normal driving the internal combustion engine will probably be producing about half its maximum output even when floored.

For the fuel consumption you get a hybrid does give you quite a bit more power (and the Prius can accelerate quite a bit faster than the Yaris).

Answer 6

Um, how is this a question?

Answer 7

Although the batteries produced may cause pollution, (thanks for referencing a link) overall they are cleaner, as a battery is produced once.

Hybrids are Zero-Emmission vehicles.  Any other automobile that is not 'green' spills 15 pounds of Carbon Dioxide into the air every 20 miles.  

A Ford Escape Hybrid does accelate fast enough for interstate driving, and if you're wanting to conserve fuel usage, you shouldn't be trying to race anyhow.

.

Answer 8

Since when combating the mass-use of fossil fuels about saving trees?

Also, I am guessing you meant the powerplants that produce the electricity that charges the batteries... or are you trying to say that  a 1-time battery production (per car) over a 5-7 year period causes more pollution than 50,000-70,000 miles of driving (1666-2333 gallons for 30mpg) a car over that same period?

Assuming you meant the feasible (powerplants, not batter-production facilities), then you should know that there has been increased research and production into renewable, and clean, energy sources (solar, hydroelectric, wind...) that would make hybrid, or even completely electric, the obvious choice for a cleaner planet.  Don't forget about nuclear energy either; technical advancements have made it so that nuclear power can be produced with only a fraction of the radioactive waste...

Plus, what could you possibly mean by "unless it's a Lexus"?  Do you mean that Lexus makes a hybrid that is more powerful than its non-hybrids?  Or just that Lexus hybrids provide more power than other hybrids.

Answer 9

My Honda Civic gets better mpg.

Answer 10

No, I didn't know that- probably because IT ISN'T TRUE!    I did talk to a guy who built his own electric car who said most of the gain made in mileage by hybrids were because those people want to see how good gas mileage they can get and drive in a more fuel efficient manner.  

BTW, why do you need all this power anyway?   I have a 4 cylinder that will do 110, probably more with decent tires.   If I need a huge truck to tow anything I'll rent one.   Huge amounts of wasted power are only needed by people who are lacking in other ways.

Answer 11

What is the question?