http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/print_item.asp?NewsID=188

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage
By Chris Demorro
Staff Writer

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.

Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?

You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius�s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.

However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn�t be writing this article. It gets much worse.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the �dead zone� around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius� battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist�s nightmare.

�The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,� said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn�t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce �nickel foam.� From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven�t even got to the best part yet.

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.

So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

*waits for vacate*

The student who wrote that may be a little behind according to this.

A more up to date rebuttle.

finally bad news that arent true. Now maybe the african guy really found out the cure of aids

I honestly don't know a lot on the issue, but I did find these two articles which would be more of a debate than I would ever come up with. It also appears the study in question was done by a company that will apparently research anything if you give them money. It appears the student who wrote the article you posted did nothing more than restate what the study had shown. Also from something else I read, the plant in Ontario had been open under Toyota long before the Prius battery was being made so it's not necessarily right to blame its pollution solely on the Prius.

Is the information about getting Nickel from Sudbury and then nickel going around the world accurate? Has anybody ever been to Sudbury before? Holy shit. You want to talk about complete and total environmental devastation? It's Sudbury.

From what i've been told, the environmental wasteland that surrounds Sudbury is not the fault of todays mining practices. Smelting techniques used a hundred years ago consisted of clear cutting a swath of land, burning the wood where it lay and smelting the ore right in place. Sure acid rain can be blamed for some environmental damage today but no more than any other industrial city.

None of the rebuttals seems to address this, which is central to the argument.

HA! That's hilarious B.
It all traces back to the ROOT of the energy source. This is exactly why electric cars didn't make it.

On the other hand, it does make the consumer feel good that they're not directly affecting the environment as much.
I wonder if Toyota knew about this ahead of time, but didn't care because they knew the consumer would buy into the hybrid revolution.

I can't comment on the accuracy of the study, but the 'dust-to-dust' approach in calculating energy consumption is important. Another one of the key aspects here that isn't mentioned a lot, is that hybrid engines don't last as long. The expected life, before engine replacement, is 100k miles. That's when I take my Honda in for it's first tune-up.

The same concerns come into effect with these energy saver light bulbs. What's the total energy consumption of the product vs. how much pollution does it save? Those bulbs also contain mercury, which is not the nicest thing to have around the house, so how do we safely dispose of them now that millions (if not billions) of these bulbs will be in use every day?

Another issue with electric cars is that many people's home, and other infrastructure points such as gas stations, aren't designed to handle the amount of electricity it takes to recharge the vehicles. A lot of people can't run their hair-dryers and microwaves at the same time w/o tripping a breaker. Add a car to that mix and you may exacerbate the problem.




Toyota is smarter than you and I. Well, smarter than me at least. The Prius established a market for hybrid cars, and as that market grows the construction of the vehicles will become more efficient, and the 'dust-to-dust' cost will go down. Less toxic and more efficient batteries will be made and that savings will spill over into other industries, so the investment Toyota made is a smart one. So in some ways, driving a hybrid is still a more environmentally sound choice because you are encouraging further improvements in the product.

Who cares about the environment; have you ever driven a Prius? Those are worth driving even if they have to slaughter 50 deer fawn to make one.

I'm not sure I think it's central to the argument. After reading the rebuttal's however, it seems like the only thing LEFT as any sort of argument, since it seems like that first report was horribly inaccurate and misleading.
Also, that plant doesnt exist solely for Prius production. While you could certainly fault Toyota for contributing by obtaining the nickel from there, they are far from being the reason that plant exists. If Toyota went out of business today, that plant would go on strong even without their business.

You could probably get more rednecks to buy them if the dealers included that as an incentive.

The whole argument in and of itself (which car is better) is kinda silly because all car production leaves a hefty environmental scar. I recall Scott (Ol' Crusty) advising several prospective hybrid buyers on RM1 to only do so if you absolutely needed a new car, due to the massive amount of resources used to produce one.

You want to make a drastic cut? I got your drastic cut right here:

To support your claim, the Sudbury mine delivers 30% of the worlds nickel.

Somewhat on topic, the Canadian government just released it's newest federal budget and one of the changes was a (up to) $4000 tax on gas guzzling vehicles and a $2000 rebate for fuel efficient vehicles.

I think it would take more than 60 months to offset the savings in gas.

It's getting close. If gas prices are over $3.00, I think they pay for themselves in less than 60 months. I saw a study...

I'd like to point out that my Aveo (with the personalized licence plate holder that says "My MFC") has done NOTHING to fix my leadfoot.

Damn, my baby can fly!!! lol.