Hybrid pollution

Rush knows his science, and he’s not a shill for any industry

 

well to wheels to grave. where do the batteries come from, and where do they go?

 

no idea

 

and hummer ev cancelled

 

He is presumably abusing the word "hybrid" to mean plug-ins, which is a common problem.

After that I see it somewhat analogous to E10 ethanol in gasoline, the benefits are in the political eye of the beholder if we have to do that or not. And Congress tends to say yes we should move that way.

 

The waste associated with the mining and separation of rare earth metals (neodymium in this case is an essential part of the permanent magnets used in the motor-generators) is a problem in China. That's the only pollution issue I can think of that is hybrid specific. This is more of a China issue than rare earth issue in my opinion.

 

He's probably still thinking of the infamous "Dust to dust" report by CNH (headed by Art Spinella) back in 2006. They claimed that the Prius had a higher environmental impact than many large SUVs, including the Hummer H3 (not the H1 though, if you read the actual report). This was due, they said, because of the large battery pack, the generators and other complexities that a "simple" gas-only SUV didn't have.

It was riddled with unexplained inconsistencies, such as an estimated average life-span of 103K miles for the Prius, but a Hummer would be driven for something closer to 300K. They also claimed that most of the energy budget of a car was in production (like $100K worth, but somehow they sold it for only $22K? Not sure how that math worked) and in recycling/demolition of the car, not in actual driving.

They generated a lot of controversy with that report, then in 2007 they quietly issued an update which pretty much reversed everything. It had fewer details in it, so not sure what changed, but the Prius now had lower environmental cost than large SUVs. However, nobody heard of that report, it was only there if you went to the website and searched for it, so the negative press against hybrids had already been done.

Neither report can be found on their website, last time I checked.

 

I'm really hoping that's Poe's Law in action...

 

We live in a time of “alternative facts” where many people believe whatever BS they need to.

I remember someone parroting the BS the Prius batteries end up in a landfill leaking toxic metals. Never mind that Prius batteries have a sticker on it with a toll free number to recycle it or you can call a recycler and they’ll come pick it up and pay you for it.

 

It's because of the congestion and accidents caused by hyper-miling hybrid drivers. Hybrids don't cause traffic-related pollution, people do.

Just kidding.




But not really.

 

At first the 'villain' was nickel, but the pollution they found was 20 years before there was a Prius. Also, it is possible that the Hummer is tarted up with more Nickel Chrome than the Prius has Nickel Metal Hydride.

Then the villain was neodymium only available from China, until the price rose to where mines opened elsewhere.

I believe the current straw man is cobalt, as some is mined using child labor in Africa (or was)

Here is a/the truth. Every PHEV and BEV will pollute less every year.

We are retiring Coal, we are phasing in Wind and Solar, our electrical energy mix is improving.

Here is an opinion, which is only mostly true. Recharging batteries does/can happen when energy demand is lowest. It does not add much Peak demand, it mostly levels out demand through the day.

 

All this fake BS is based on batteries dying at 100k miles and the car being junked, batteries not being recycled, etc.

 

A lot of the time, it's clearly the right and generous thing to do, look for maybe a simple confusion that might have led a person of good faith into an inadvertent mistake.

But the first word of this thread was 'Rush'.

 

I know hybrid car owners who eat with paper plates, plastic utensils, starbucks on a regular basis that never recycles but touts theyre saving the earth because they use little gasoline only. Perhaps that was the real underlying point of his.

 

I have a neighbor with a prius who also has a hummer h1, a ford expedition, a dually truck, and some big old chevy/gmc van. I also have a neighbor with a prius who doesn't even take his trash out every week because he has so little.

Go figure.

 

Stopped reading there. Fake news.