news segment on Aug 15, 2006 about negative attitude towards hybrid cars and HOV lanes.
Prius Envy
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
I love my little ugly prius and I don’t care what people say. They are just hating cause I can drive on the carpool lane and they can’t hahahahahahahah!!!
Did you know that the full Enviroment cost of a prius over its lifetime is greater than a Land Rover Discovery !
The Enviroment Cost of the Magnesuim in the Battery’s alone would be more than The total cost of a Fiat 500
Motorcycles are light, the starter motor can assist the biker to do reverse slowly. However, for a small size car, the power required would be much higher. I read that the GM hybrid pickup truck has to use a big starter motor running at 48VDC to fake a hybrid system. They could only improve the mpg by less than 10% because the starter motor cannot do much.
I’m not sure how the cars creep forward, but my guess would be that the starter is causing it to move, similar to how a few motorcycles use the starter to engage a ‘reverse’ gear.
” the free market would eat them up ”
Your right, they sold 100,000 last year in the US alone.
I am curious how the car inches forward without power. I read an article that Nissan is developing a new engine that can restart without cranking the electric starter. It uses one cylinder to kick start. The design objective is to allow the engine to start and stop at will. I wonder if it has emission problem because initial burn during the engine restart is the dirtiest. The Prius solved the problem by electrically spinning up the cylinder to operating RPM before fuel injection.
Well if you can shut down the engine at times when the car isn’t moving, that’s a great step forward. Actually, about 15 years ago I saw a program on tv where a Mercedes Benz could shut down it’s engine whilst standing still, could inch forward slowly in a traffic jam without turning over the engine and then could restart when the foot was planted. It was like a hybrid but didn’t have much of a battery or electric motor.
I think the reclaimed energy is just a drop in the bucket, especially when you have to factor in conversion losses. In my opinion, the fuel enconmy of the Prius comes from its ability to shut down the engine whenever possible. Hence, highway MPG is not as great as city driving.
Cars that can reclaim kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy are a huge step forward in efficient car technology. It’s a lesson or insight into energy conservation in transport. It’s stupid people that blow technology like this out of proportion and start labeling it for political motives. Throughout time, most great innovations were scoffed and laughed at. Eventually you will see full-electric car races that will blow F1 away.
Actually, the antarctic ice caps are reported to be at record highs. I’m sure you’re not an accomplished scientist who has traveled to the ends of the earth, even if you play one on the internet.
Even assuming your “facts” are correct, there is still no arguement for my money to be forcibly taken to subsidize your purchase, regardless what it is.
I bet you received all your facts from the reports doctored by the US administration. Any scholar knows that no one, especially the government should alter publications for political reasons. Don’t believe what other tells you, take a trip to the north and see for yourself were the ice cap are. Talk to the locals what have changed recently. Then take a trip to the south and ask the locals how hot the climate has changed recently.
I do have the facts right. If it’s so beneficial to own a hybrid, by all means buy one. Don’t expect me to be happy about MY hard earned tax dollars subsidising YOUR purchase. Using the falacy of man-made global warming is a ridiculous ploy by politicians to make themselves look better.
The hybrids emit less toxic fume, plus it burns less gas per mile. So the overall emission per mile traveled is just a tiny fraction of a normal car’s. The hybrids are not cheap. The owners of these cars use their hard earn money to save the environment. The government hand-outs is not enough to cover what these people had to chip in up front. These cars are in disadvantage because of their high price. Get the facts right please.
Of course the government has to provide special treatment for those who buy hybrids. Tax breaks and skipping in line via HOV privileges are just a start. Why else would anybody buy one of these tiny under powered P.O.S.’s? If they were so advantageous, the free market would eat them up without government hand-outs.
Look Mitch, what ever your sense of fashion may be, you do not seem to carry the same belief as the general public on this matter. Even if you’re trying to justify your mistake of buying a steaming pile of shit that barely moves at all, I would have to suggest that you your favorable opinion of that abomination inappropriately labeled a car to yourself for fear of getting shunned or even stoned.
“we had trouble getting people to car pool” … ah, so even in spite of the false promise of faster travel via a carpool lane, you could not induce consumers to go for it. Take a hint.
i agree
-KEVIN-
i think cars with the “Clean vehicle Pass” should be given an advantage, the HOV lane is for the environment and on Longisland we had trouble getting people to car pool so the Prius worked great.
-KEVIN-
Dont be haters.
haha. her name is nancy wiener.
They are not slow and far from ugly chode12. I can get in excess of 60mpg easily. Diesels contribute to pollution far more than petrol – I suggest you do some research before you spout the verbal in future.
I give a damn about the enviroment, thats why I drive a more enviromentally friendly car – so what are you doing to save the planet??
Prius are ugly, slow, and not as efficient as some modern small diesels. 45 REAL mpg compared to 60+ real mpg in some diesels. These cars a pricey status symbols bought mainly by those who don’t give a damn about the environment and are much more concerned with looking “cool” and appearing green, as that is now fashionable. I detest all prius drivers.
I never claimed the batteries will last forever. Like I said, there are Priuses taxis with 250,000 miles on the odometer. Most Americans do about 10,000 miles per year, which means that for the average American your Prius’s batteries will last for longer than 25 years assuming these taxis performances are representative of the average Prius’s performance. Toyota claims that they expect the batteries to last for the life of the car.
The batteries regardless will need to be changed. They will break down, and they will need to be replaced. All batteries succumb to this inevitability, and the self life of a lithium-ion battery is adversely affected by temperature and age. Which is kind of funny because a car is at continues exposure to the elements.
What is perceived as fact depends on where you get the information. Peer-reveiwed scientific data shows that the hybrid is cleaner because it makes up for its higher energy initial production costs from savings during driving. Research it for yourself. There is data from MIT to confirm it.