Comments on: No magic bullet – the pros and cons of green cars http://theguardsman.com/2009/03/no-magic-bullet-the-pros-and-cons-of-green-cars/ City College of San Francisco's Award Winning Newspaper Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:36:45 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: mikedimmick.blogspot.com/ http://theguardsman.com/2009/03/no-magic-bullet-the-pros-and-cons-of-green-cars/comment-page-1/#comment-79 mikedimmick.blogspot.com/ Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:23:48 +0000 http://theguardsman.com/?p=2775#comment-79 The Daily Mail had to publish a retraction about the Sudbury nickel mine, which you can find at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-417227/Toyota-factory.html: "The following letter was published in the Mail on Sunday on May 13, 2007: "Your 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." The Prius contains a pretty small amount of nickel. The battery as a whole weighs less than 40kg (approx 90 lbs). Far more nickel goes into producing stainless steel than producing batteries of any sort; many more consumer rechargeable batteries are produced than Prius, or other electric or hybrid vehicle, batteries. You make the mistake of comparing EU driving cycle tests to US tests. The tests are not comparable due to different driving programs and test conditions; the EPA tests are considerably more rigorous. The current Prius achieves 65.7mpg on the EU test; Toyota claim 72.4mpg for the new car arriving later this year. The EU test is noticeably weak in 'extra urban' driving - it only has a short burst of 120km/h (75mph) driving, most of the test is at or below 70km/h (about 44mph). The current Prius is weaker relative to many small diesel vehicles at motorway speeds; it averages around 50-55mpg at 70mph in my experience. Again, this is something Toyota claim to have improved. Motoring journalists tend to take the car for long motorway drives and criticise the Prius for not reaching the figures stated in the statutory fuel economy test, which has very different conditions. (In defence of the journalists, Toyota have promoted this figure prominently in advertising.) The Daily Mail had to publish a retraction about the Sudbury nickel mine, which you can find at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-417227/Toyota-factory.html:

“The following letter was published in the Mail on Sunday on May 13, 2007:

“Your 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.”

The Prius contains a pretty small amount of nickel. The battery as a whole weighs less than 40kg (approx 90 lbs). Far more nickel goes into producing stainless steel than producing batteries of any sort; many more consumer rechargeable batteries are produced than Prius, or other electric or hybrid vehicle, batteries.

You make the mistake of comparing EU driving cycle tests to US tests. The tests are not comparable due to different driving programs and test conditions; the EPA tests are considerably more rigorous. The current Prius achieves 65.7mpg on the EU test; Toyota claim 72.4mpg for the new car arriving later this year.

The EU test is noticeably weak in ‘extra urban’ driving – it only has a short burst of 120km/h (75mph) driving, most of the test is at or below 70km/h (about 44mph). The current Prius is weaker relative to many small diesel vehicles at motorway speeds; it averages around 50-55mpg at 70mph in my experience. Again, this is something Toyota claim to have improved. Motoring journalists tend to take the car for long motorway drives and criticise the Prius for not reaching the figures stated in the statutory fuel economy test, which has very different conditions. (In defence of the journalists, Toyota have promoted this figure prominently in advertising.)

]]>