Hybrid cars aren't really that environmentally safe--Is this true?

Question

Someone told me hybrid cars are just as bad as the regular ones driving on highways because although they are more energy efficient, it takes more energy to actually make them. Is this true or false?

I had my hopes up for buying a toyota hybrid because it was environmentally friendly and comes with tax relief. Should I still?

Answer 1

There was an article written in a right-wing college newspaper that people keep quoting to show that this is true, but the fact was that everything in that article was unsubstantiated, never cited, and much of it was debunked. For example, the article claimed that the nickel used to produce the battery came from a strip mine in Britain, which turned out to be false. The nickel was mined, it was true, but it was a normal mine that had no impact on the ecology around it, and the cost of shipping it was no different than the costs of producing any other car parts. The paper that printed that article has since pulled the article from its website, although it is still floating around. In any case, the theory that hybrid cars are not environmentally safe has proved to be nothing more than an urban myth created for political reasons. Buy the car if you want it. It is no more and no less environmentally safe as anything else (except SUVs, which ARE environmentally hazardous), but is a step in the right direction toward creating more effective and environmentally safe cars in the future.

Answer 2

It's true that hybrids require a bit more energy to produce than regular cars, but over the lifetime of the car you're using a lot more energy driving it than it took to build the car in the first place.

Many of the myths behind hybrids come from this marketing report called 'Dust to Dust'. It was an extremely flawed report, and one of its mistakes was this one you heard - that the amount of energy it takes to build the hybrid is more than the energy it saves over its lifetime of running.

I recommend that you read the 7 page report which I link below. It exposes the problems with the 'Dust to Dust' report. Toyota hybrids are great for the environment - buy one with a clean conscience.

Answer 3

They are a lot more efficient in stop-and-go traffic, traffic in downtown areas and such, and seemingly on most highways as well if you're awake during usual "business hours" of most cities. On strictly highway driving, the economy will fall noticeably if you are really tracking it. As for the energy it takes to actually make them, one would expect that someone that tracks energy usage that closely will also be closely tracking their own energy usage in an effort to try to reduce. Typically, the people that make that argument against Hybrids aren't in that camp at all, but who's to say? You might want to consider your driving habits when considering a Hybrid car, but don't be dissuaded by people that are using arguments of the energy consumed in creating the car.

Answer 4

I believe maybe there is a confusion between the hybrid vehicles and the ones that are able to run on "gasahol", the ethanol-gasoline blends touted as coming from renewable corn crops. The problem with ethanol is that while corn is a renewable resource, corn prices are supported by government subsidies paid for by the taxpayers to start with. Then the ethanol industry turns corn into ethanol, also with the benefit of taxpayer-paid subsidies. Then because corn has been diverted from the feed supplies for livestock AND from food supplies for people food, both meat, produce and cereal products become more expensive as direct corn-based foods become scarcer and more expensive and must be augmented by foods made from other grains. Barley products (including breads and fermented beverages like beer) will cost more. Rice and wheat products also.
There is a very strong argument that hybrids are better than fossil fuels and ethanol, and people can only do what they can do. If you can afford the higher price tag of your toyota hybrid, buy it and enjoy it in good conscience.
Thanks for caring about your individual impact on the earth.

Answer 5

Any extra energy used to make the car was bough and paid for by the builder. So the builder has to charge more for the car to pay their energy bill. So you can judge how much extra energy was used by how much more the car costs than a regular car. If the extra cost is less than the gas savings you expect over the life of the car, then it is good for both the environment and your wallet. If not, then just get a small, fuel efficient regular car instead.

Answer 6

I've been told that it depends more on how much urban/city driving vs highway driving you do. The switch to gasoline power happens at highway speeds so more highway driving would equate to gas usage. Where that switch happens depends on the vehicle. That also depends on which manufacturers hybrid you buy. The car talk guys have a lot of a lot of good info.

Answer 7

There are several points on this. First of all, the old standards for measuring gas allowed the hybrids to completely turn off their engines, producing high mpg ratings. Newer ratings, that actually reflect true driving habits show the mpg to be lower then originally thought.

Secondly, the cost of the battery energy wise is ridiculous. First of all, factor in the fuel used to harvest the nickel from a mine in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada which is then shipped to be smelted and refined in Europe before it is shipped to Asia to be made into a battery. Energy to harvest, refine, and produce a final product, and three possibly 4 shipping trips (canada to europe, europe to asia, asia to the car manufacturer, car manufacturer to you). Now, factor in the fact that the car still burns gas, plus uses oil and all the other car lubricants/coolants/etc.

Third points is that the average lifespan of the battery is about 5 years or 100,000 miles. So after 5 years, when you might actually start helping to save the environment, you will have to cough out more money for another battery that was produce the same way as the first one resulting in more pollution being introduced into the world.

If you want a car that is environmentally friendly, it would have to be pure electric with a battery that doesn't contain nickel or lead.


ADD:
As for one of the poster above me saying Brazil runs on corn, that is not true. Ethanol produced from corn is bad because you have to spend more in the refining process of corn to get less out. On average 1 unit of energy produces 0.85 untis of ethanol. In brazil, they use sugarcane and most plants run independant of everything else. Sugar cane will produce sugar, they can then gain the ethanol, and burn the fibre to run the plant. Since sugar cane is hard to grow in North America, producing such results is really hard.

Ethanol also poses another problem if it is taken from corn. If the corn is being used to make fuel, where will the feed corn, and, my favorite, peaches and cream corn come from? Prices of corn will sky rocket to the point where it's only viable purpose will be as a fuel and not as food. Economical impacts must be looked at, at this point.

As for the builder paying for the extra energy, i doubt that true. How aout the car costs more becase you are throwing in a honking big battery, a generator, and couple nice new comptuer to do the controlling and charging, and changing of drive systems.

Answer 8

since it was powered by gas it has emission yes but part-time why? its electrically driven but when almost low-batt. the generator kicks and take-over the car has the ability to run half of the time air friendly if the sequence was 50% ok but if 60/40 looks good i mean 60% air friendly driving it helps the environment to cut down carbon emission

Answer 9

well my friend hydrogen hybrid cars dont burn fossil fuels therefor they are environmentally friendly and the exhaust that comes out is drinkable water rather that toxic polluting gas fumes.

brazil is the model the morth america should become as brazil are only 60 percent dependant on fossil fuels as 40 percent of cars there run on corn.