-danny(man)

Electric powered cars are obviously the way to go. Now that its been shown that they can produce exceptional power (see the Tesla), batteries are lighter than every, and plug in technology is coming to fruition, soon we should be able to put some solar panels on our roofs (that’s online too!).

We’ll just have to wait and see how strong a hold the oil industry has on our world… ;)

That’s terrible. (A rake is a quieter and better exercise.)

I hope we learn to vote with our wallets: buy organic and free range eggs etc. People are looking to Obama to help build the infrastructure that will make many of our dreams for greener planet a reality. If the will is there we’ll reach the tipping point soon enough.

(As a side note, that is exactly why the ‘quiet’ leaf blower has never gained a substantial market share — people don’t believe it works as well because it’s not making a loud combustion engine noise!)

I read an article many years ago about a visitor to this country (I think from some Asian country). He was completely stunned at the sheer number of cars driving around with only ONE occupant! Exactly. We have far, far, far too many vehicles than we actually need. In Vancouver the HOV lanes had to be reduced from 3 people to 2 because no-one was using them! Two people is ‘high occupancy’?!?

There is much more to do, vehicle wise, to save the planet than just choosing a hybrid. It requires a paradigm shift in personal, cultural, and societal mentality. Think that will ever happen in your lifetime?

As far as how quickly one recoups the ‘extra’ cost of the hybrid, solely depends on the DRIVER, not the car. Prior to this purchase I did my research regarding MPG, features, etc., not considering recouping any costs later. Honestly it wasn’t a factor what-so-ever. However for those of you that find this to be a factor, do research regarding hypermiling. It took me a tank or two to get effective at it, but it works. I now only fill my 12 gallon tank twice monthly, versus the 17 gallons 6 times monthly in a 4 cylinder 5 speed pick-up on the exact same commute.

The oil changes for my HCH II are a lot more expensive, $10 per quart of oil, but only needs to be changed approximately every 9k miles. In the long run, savings over other straight fuel engines.

Just my $.02. Plan on having this car for the next ten years (10 year all inclusive warranty), and it will pay for itself several times over.

:: Total carbon footprint of hybrids currently offset environmental benefits. Environmental benefits don’t seem justified unless they’re getting over 100+mpg..

:::: Hybrids are a beautiful idea, but not economically or scientifically smart YET. (I smell big oil stalling things still.. help us Obama – you’re our last hope.)

Buy a gas car and buy $20 of carbon offset credits a year for equal environmental impact… don’t forget to put the sticker on your car so you can feel proud. Better — buy a good diesel for overall fuel value, affordable longevity, and footprint.

BATTERY: -heavy.
-toxic (sealed or not, one day you recycle it).
-efficiency and capacity decreases over
time, just like in your cell phone battery.
-expensive.

MAINTENANCE: -expensive.
-complicated and specialized.

ENGINE: -high revving and running all by itself on a highway.

DRIVETRAIN: -stolen.
+genius.

BODY: +very low air drag coefficient.
-heavy for its dimensions.

And one thing also, you want to save the nature, – just don’t have more than two children and use public transportation. So next time i zip by in my lightweight turbocharged ride, i want to see your pseudo-intelligent Prius face expressions gone.

#59: Electric cars, even when powered by coal, put out less CO2 due to the efficiencies of the electric motor and the efficiencies of a large centralized plant vs small internal combustion engines. Even if it were a wash, there are definite smog/asthma benefits to not having each car haul a smokestack right into the heart of our downtowns and then sit there and idle in traffic.

Kyler: I can’t answer your lease question. The battery question unfortunately doesn’t have a hugely satisfactory answer: we don’t know for sure. We DO know that the batteries are good for over 500,000 km of mileage. They seem to last as far as you care to drive them. We don’t know however if the batteries have some kind of decay over time whether they’re used or not. They’re warrantied for 8 years/160,000 km, and we’re just past 10 years of real-world data with the first generation of batteries, and almost 5 years with second-generation batteries. The time-based lifespan appears to be at least 15 years, probably 20-30. The failure rate on first-generation batteries is somewhere around 1% I believe. There are isolated reports of second-generation batteries failing, but so far most are in some way related to abuse (overheating/forced overdischarge/collision); even then the reported failure rate is 0.003%

very good point paul s. that’s what i was thinking. hybrid cars aren’t really green, they just use less gas. the manufacturing of the hybrid unit, battery, etc might be bad for the environment as well. some people think hybrids run on love and hot air, but they use gas too and they’re blowing out co2. just like every other car. it’s the same with electric cars just because there aren’t any exhaust coming out of it, it doesn’t mean that they are green. electric energy is still generated by coal burning plant.
sorry i’m biased here – i think it’s good to get a good import car like vw and drive it smart. don’t drag race at the traffic light, no drive thrus, look ahead, don’t break as much!

http://www.cnwmr. com

ONe, is there a concern with the useful life of batteries in cars like the Prius ( that could affect its resale value past say 5 yrs ) ?

Secondly, is there any time when it makes sense to lease a HYBRID car like the Prius for personal use ( ie not being able to write off lease payments ) ?