Does a Prius run cleaner per gallon of gas than others

As you have hinted, there are two sides to this story.

First, yes, the Prius is one of the cleanest cars re emissions per gallon burned. Check the EPA site for figures.

The second side is the amount of fuel burned per mile. As the Prius is currently the lowest consumer of fuel per mile of any "main stream" car, it also emits less CO2 than any other per mile. CO2 -IS- a serious polluter of the planet.

Note that the Honda Insite -was- above the Prius in least fuel burned per mile, but as it's no longer sold in NA I don't consider it.

Note also, I put the term "main stream" car in because there are a few EVs you can buy. They don't emit directly, as you charge them from the electrical grid. It could be argued, if you had a solar electric array, and supplied enough power to the grid, or charged your EV directly from the solar array only, the EV emits nothing. Of course it does produce -some- O3 (ozone) from sparking.
At any rate, the sales of these are insignificant currently, so I don't consider them either.

 

There also the lean burn engines of 10 years ago to consider.
They were much more economical, look at the way a 98 1.8 toyota avensis achieves 45mpg.
However they did it by emitting NO, which isnt too kind to bunnies

 

When burning gas, at max Rev/Min (like full acceleration) the consumption of gas, volume over time, will be like a Toyota Yaris.

However the Toyota Yaris lacks the SULEV exhaust system that the Prius has, so, to answer, the Prius emits LESS than a car with the same engine, when both are under similar conditions.

Like accelerating as fast as possible in a 0-60Mph, or passing on the highway.

All current cars could have Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) if the Gov't had any balls. The technology exists for over SEVEN years.

Read up on PZEV on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZEV

GM/Ford/Chrysler *never* released PZEV, because it would add 500$ to the purchase price of a *new* car, and would most likely subtract some *precious* HP from the motor.

So without being a hybrid, a rotary engine (Mazda), improved transmission and PZEV, and a regular non-hybrid car would double it's mileage and more than halve it's emissions. For less than 1k$.
(Instead of Who Killed the Electric Car, it should have been Why Was PZEV Killed?)

Problem with that, is that GM/Ford/Chrysler make their money in Aftermarket, not at sale.

So called "domestic" cars are sold cheap - even though most they are not built in the US - because they WILL breakdown in a predicable fashion.
Like the exhaust system that rusts away at 40k miles / 3 years.

So Toyota cars are built to last with higher quality construction, must make profit at sale, so are more expensive to buy.
However, their resell value is higher, so it ends up being the same in the long run.

 

Hi SpectraBob,

Do you hop in your car to burn gas, or travel somewhere? Per mile travelled is the proper evaluation, not per gallon of gas.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SpectraBob @ Nov 7 2007, 09:33 PM) [snapback]536462[/snapback]</div>

Quite a bit of air quality problems occur in cities with congested traffic, where long lines of cars and trucks are stuck in traffic with their engines idling. Notice the "PZEV - Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle" sticker on the side window of your Prius. A traffic jam with hundreds of Prii stuck in traffic would produce almost no smog, since most of them would be sitting there with their engines off, emitting zero emissions.

Harry