A recent report suggests that a Honda Prius might not be as
ecofriendly as a Hummer (the Maybach is definitely a bad idea, though).
The full figures won't be available until May 8th, and I suspect the
report is going to be utterly discredited before then, or something,
but if it encourages others to publish their figures, then that would
be good.
Meanwhile, I came across another sexy 2+2 which does 188mpg (or will, in 2009 - if it makes it that far) - the Loremo.
I'll have a GT, please.
10 comments:
Probably not, as a Honda Prius would have to be some sort of ghastly hashed-together bastardised technology probably with a small cast-iron brazier in its innards burning raw crude. Unless, of course, you meant a Toyota Prius.
- H
My mistake - I actually meant the Honda Civic Hybrid. But the same is true of the Prius, according to this bunch.
Hybrids don't get good mileage. The EPA tests that the manufacturers are obligated to report don't work well with hybrid technology and actually report much higher fuel economy than you can get with normal usage. My driving patterns (about 70% highway) would make a hybrid useless for me.
The MYT (Massive Yet Tiny) engine "The engine moves pistons on different rotors relative to each other to form combustion chambers of variable volume in a toroidal cylinder. The pistons move in stepwise fashion, with the pistons on one rotor travelling a predetermined distance while the pistons on the other rotor remain substantially stationary."
Put one or two of these MYT engines in a car (with regular doors -- sorry, Matt, we get too much rain here for me to crawl into my car a dozen times daily) and provide triple digit gas economy, and I'm sniffing.
Question: has anyone seen an "ecological" study on the impact to water, air, and wastestream of the new hybrid vehicle technologies? I've seen several regarding universal recycling practices and the manufacture of electronics, but none specifically addressing the production and retirement of exotic materials used in lightweight fuel/electric vehicles. I do expect a study to imply that the overall pollution created by the streeting of one hybrid vehicle to exceed that created by the issue of a Hummer, Laredo, etc.
A Union of Concerned Scientists scientist rips into the report by pointing out that the Scion xA is considered almost twice as “energy-expensive” as the xB, despite the fact that both cars are built on the same body, in the same plant, by the same workers, using the same steel, with the same distribution and recycling process.
A CNW official responds by pointing to the “complexity,” shorter life expectancy and higher tooling costs for the xA. A longer life-expectancy itself “brings the cost way down.” The official adds that the xA “tends not to be very well-received,” meaning that production and other costs cannot be leveraged over as many vehicles.
The CNW official concede that third and fourth generation Priuses, which, by taking much of the “complexity” out of the vehicle’s powertrain architecture and “simplifying repair and replacement,” will help future models’ energy impact. The study uses Toyota figures, the official says, and assigns the current Prius model a 112,000 mile lifetime. Environmentalists assert that this grossly underestimates the lifetime of a Prius. In comparison the Ford F-150 pickup truck enjoys an average 280,000 mile lifetime in the study.
I think that pretty much sums up the whole argument for me.
The proponents of the report are playing games with per unit amortisation and duty cycle figures.
So, if I have three oranges and five apples, how many cows would it take to equal a duck?
I just looked at the Loremo GT. Those acceleration figures are the same as those quoted for the Diesel Jeep Laredo. It's no slouch.
Driving a 30-year old car with 300,000 miles on the clock is, on the face of it, good because of the huge amounts of pollution etc. produced in the manufacturing process. On the other hand modern cars have much lower emissions than old cars so the best thing to do might be to buy a normal, non-hybrid car now and drive it for the rest of your life.
At least cars occasionally need replacing, unlike mobile phones which get replaced like fashion accessories.
- H
Unless it's better to wait another five(ish) years and buy My First Hydrogen Powered Vehicle instead...
Update: a full spreadsheet of their results is here.
Hmmm... the last three I've discarded have stopped functioning completely. My I-Mate Jasjar is starting to go. The earphone no longer works, nor does the alarm function.
I regularly exceed 1500 minutes usage per month, so maybe they have a limited "mileage"?
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