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There is a term used in the automotive industry called ?energy cost,? which measures the energy needed to build, drive, sell and even dispose of a vehicle. The energy cost is a fi gure that is incredibly hard to find.
The energy cost for a Prius is high, with an average cost of $3.25 per mile, higher than a Hummer H1, which comes in at $1.95. Again, the energy cost covers multiple variables.
The high energy cost of the Prius is primarily caused by the construction of the car. For instance, the energy cost of a Prius would include the energy needed to produce the nickel for the battery that aids in propelling the car. The nickel used in the Prius is mined from a vain out of Sudburry, Ontario. The process to convert that nickel to a medium that can be used by the Prius is a 10,000-mile trek that would give any environmentalist a coronary.
This argument/article is based on misleading and out of date information. The information is from a marketing firm, not an independent reasearcher (3 guesses who paid for the study) and doesn't exactly compare apples and apples. To begin with, they assume a Prius has a 100,000 mile lifespan and a Hummer has a 300,000 life span.
The main argument against the Prius seems to be the enviromental damage at the Sudbury plant.......which occurred in the 70s and 80s! This information is outdated and inaccurrate. See the rebuttals from the 2 sources below:
"The Sudbury info is seriously outdated, and the comment about moon buggies (like, when did Nasa test moon buggies ? early 1970?s) ought to have given the author a clue. Sudbury was polluted by a century of mining (1870 on). In fact, some of Sudbury?s nickel went into making the Statue of Liberty. Currently, the mine is owned by INCO (not Toyota), and produces 100,000 tons of nickel a year, of which Toyota buys 1% (1000 tons). Nickel, by the way, is primarily used to make stainless steel."
"...... article about the Inco nickel factory at Sudbury, Canada, wrongly implied that poisonous fumes from the factory had left the area looking like a lunar landscape because so many plants and trees had died. You also sought to blame Toyota because the nickel is used, among countless other purposes, for making the Prius hybrid car batteries.
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."
Matthew Christ needs to choose his sources better. The main anti-Prius argument is from an article in to the March 7, 2007 issue of the Central Connecticut State "Recorder" a college paper, which is itself being questioned as nothing more than a thin rewrite of the marketing group's press release!
. But if she buys a Prius, Mathew Christ's words will haunt her...
