Hummer vs. Hybrid
Have you heard the latest counter-intuitive myth buster? A hybrid automobile will expend more energy, from conception to retirement, than a Hummer. This is apparently for several reasons, the most important being the extra energy costs for the design and development of the new technology found in hybrids, and shorter lifespans the cars are assumed to have at this point.
… the dust-to-dust energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile. This is quite a bit more than the $1.949 per mile that the elephantine Hummer costs.
Egad, could it be that environmental smugness has finally and unintentionally burned itself in the hell-fires of irony? Not so fast.
The problem with Dalmia’s Op-ed, and many other irresponsible misrepresentations of the very ambitious CNW report: “Dust to Dust”, are that today’s costs, aren’t necessarily tomorrow’s costs, and Spinello himself admits that hybrids will probably be more “dust to dust” energy efficient than their non-hybrid counterparts in a relatively short time, as short as a few years, as the technology is simplified and the manufacturing process is streamlined. (Check out that podcast for a good overview of the report’s conclusions.) New technology is always more costly early in it’s development.
A problem I think with the study itself is that it fails to take into account the comparative R&D costs already sunk in the development of the internal combustion engine, years ago. So add the life cycle of the technology in question itself to the total tally and perhaps we would get a better picture of realistic “energy costs.” Problem is, you can’t. The internal combustion engine’s life cycle isn’t over yet and the hybrid life cycle just begun. Hence the defining boundaries of the “dust to dust” concept itself remain ambiguous enough to render this approach somewhat problematic.
However, the CNW report is interesting in that it forces one to think beyond the simple window of ownership, for a true representation of the energy cost in the life cycle of a product. And while I’m the first to rally behind a good myth buster, the only myth busted here probably won’t be a myth tomorrow.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
u r sooooo rong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 18th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
One issue I haven’t heard anyone address yet, is what becomes of a hybrid when it gets old and ends up on the used car lot? Or falls into disrepair by someone who doesn’t care about the car or the environment; they are only concerned about getting from point A to point B? How many times have you seen someone driving around in a car that smokes so bad that it obscures the surrounding area? I think to myself, “…man you need to do something with that smoke bomb - like stop driving it until you fix it.”
What do you think is going to happen when the electric powered portion of the hybrid begins to break down and only the gasoline system still works? Or, although both systems are working fine, the batteries wear out and will cost a fortune to replace? The owner will continue to drive on the gasoline portion. The reports I’ve read say that a hybrid can be expected to last about 150,000 miles and then it and it’s batteries will be ready for the scrap heap. Really? I have a Nissan hard body that has over 310,000 miles on it. It still runs fine and I drive it every day. My point is that as long as the car gets you from place to place, even if the electric portion of the car fails, the owner will continue to drive it as long as the gasoline portion works. The “welfare monger” driving it isn’t going to give a damn that he is carrying around a boat load of extra weight that is doing nothing but causing the gas engine to use more fuel. Then he says to himself, I need to get rid of that extra weight. So instead of properly disposing of the batteries - which we all know is going to cost something at the local city dump - he is just going to find the nearest ditch and dump the batteries there. Now I know that conventional lead-acid storage batteries are sometimes done this way as well, but they are not as big as a hybrid battery and I’ll guarantee they are at least as damaging as regular batteries.
My parents regularly visit my sister in Ireland. The last time my parents were there, they rented a Ford Focus with a 2.0L turbo diesel. The car had neck-snapping acceleration and got 50 mpg. The hybrids were rated at 60 mpg, but due to EPA adjustments in the testing criteria the mileage has been reduced to 45 mpg. Regardless of whether ratings are 45 or 60 mpg for the hybrid, 50 mpg for the diesel is pretty damn good. Instead of all of this hype and nonsense about which drive system is best, let’s just use what is already in place and figure out how to get better mpg from what is already available. 50 mpg, is 50 mpg regardless of whether it is a diesel or a hybrid getting it. You will still produce the same amount of pollutants because you still burn the same quantity of fuel. Also, do you really think that when the hybrid has changed hands for the fourth time and systems begin to break that the latest owner is going to spend the huge money necessary to properly repair the car? Current gasoline powered cars with their computer controls are expensive as hell to fix now. How many people do you know continue to drive a car with the “check engine” light brightly lit? How about disabling the computer systems or jimmying them so that the car will continue to run - just good enough to get the person around? If you think a worn out car from about 1993 is a poluter, then what do you think a 2006 hybrid is going to be in 2021?
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Great post on hybrids. Check out our hybrid page when you get the chance http://www.thecarconnection.com/style/green