I'm told that making the batteries for the Prius causes alot of pollution?

See HERE and HERE for in depth rebuttals.

We have too many threads on this subject to warrant starting another.

 

Amazing how the efforts of a few GM fanboys and some neocon shrills can keep this OUTRIGHT BOLDFACED LIE going and going and going ....

 

As F8L suggests, this has been convincingly and resoundingly debunked long ago.

If you're new to web forums in general, I'll be forgiving. A friendly suggestion: Learn how to use a forum's search function before jumping in with a new thread, especially one that's bound to generate discussion and controversy. You can bet if it's been presented previously, it's been covered ad nauseam.

If you're not new to forums ... well, I'll just say you should know better.

 

Just drop the subject and if your friend brings it up just ignore him. No point arguing with an idiot.

 

yes toyota kills 112 lemmings and 2 whales for every battery it ships. They are getting better as they also used to hunt down seals and snail darters just for practice when gearing up for battery manufacture!

 

I have posted this many times on many sites when people bring up the subject of disposing of the Batteries.

We live in a time where people recycle anything to make a buck. That being said.

I deal in buying houses and you would be amazed at the number of houses that I have seen that people have broken into to steal the plumbing or siding to cash it in. I will assure you and your misinformed friend that we will not see any Hybrid batteries in the landfill anytime soon.

 

The nickel in your batteries is so toxic they put it in, Nickels! The acid is so toxic its not even acid, its Drano. Wouldn't want to drink it, but its safe to pour down the drain because it brakes down almost immediately into benign compounds.

Nickel is currently valued at $10/lb. Since the battery has about 30 lbs of Nickel in it, I seriously doubt any of them will ever end up in a landfill. Last I knew Toyota would actually pay you $200 to return one so they could recycle it.

Mining of Nickel is no more or less destructive than mining any other metal. Which is to say its actually pretty destructive. But as most vehicles contain > 3000 lbs of steel, I'd say the 30 lbs of Nickel in the Prius battery is pretty irrelevant. For that matter many steel alloys contain a fair amount of Nickel.

This is a favorite ploy of the hybrid hater, which has no basis in reality whatsoever.

Rob

 

Jayman, umm, no it isn't amazing. Not really.

What I liked about your response was that I thought you must have meant "shills". But then I realized that it works either way. Pretty neat, liguistically speaking. Even though you may have invented a new noun.

 

Well said!

It's a lot like trying to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

 

Try this:

The average passenger vehicle has a starting battery that weighs 50 lbs, half of which is the weight of the lead.

Over its lifetime, the average passenger vehicle will use 3 starting batteries.

Total: 75 lbs lead.

( I can reference credible industry sources on all those facts if required).

By contrast, the Prius uses one traction battery with about 30 lbs nickel, and (perhaps?) 2 small lead-acid batteries with about 12 lbs lead. The Prius uses fewer lead-acid batteries because those batteries are not subject to the wear and tear of starting the engine.

Total: 30 lbs nickel, 24 lbs lead, 54 lbs of metal.

Conclusion: On net, the Prius
a) Uses less total metal in its batteries, lifetime, than a traditional non-hybrid passenger vehicle.
b) Uses a lower proportion of the toxic metal (lead), on average.

Now, is the smelting of lead somehow spectacularly more environmentally friendly than the smelting of nickel? No, not as far as I can tell. And lead smelting, even for recapture of recycled batteries, appears substantially more toxic to humans that nickel smelting. Lead smelting has the same S02 problems that nickel does, but in addition, the lead vapor itself is toxic and pollutes the area around the smelter.

Ever hear of nickel poisoning? Nope. Ever hear of lead poisoning?

But your friend is clearly a dodo. Just ask and answer the question: which vehicle uses fewer pounds of metal for its batteries, over its lifetime. Answer: the Prius.

More generally, large disposable batteries are not a good idea. Batteries that last the life of the car should be considered better until proven otherwise.

 

Yea and Cows put out more Methane that is far worse than making Prius batteries, but I'll be damned if I am driving a cow to work!!!

KK6PD

 

Peak oil is here and if we don't come up with a better plan soon you may be forced to commute on a Herford. Hahahaha

 

Never. I only buy Guernsey or Jersey!

Also, don't forget that stainless steel is between 8-20% nickel. Chrome, often found of vehicles rich in "bling", also contains nickel. I'll wager that a Hummer H3 has more nickel in it than a prius by a fair amount. The engine block is probably stainless steel. The prius' engine is made of aluminium and there's no chrome.

In a nutshell, you mate's source is full of shite.

 

A typo on my part from typing too fast. But I'm going to leave it as-is: a shill who is shrill. Neat

 

Thanks to enormous udders, their milk output is nothing short of amazing. If you're in a cow-jam at an exit ramp, you could always grab a quick snack

There are probably stainless steel components, but most modern GM engine blocks are either iron block/aluminum head or all-aluminum

 

Just think of what an environmental disaster the DeLorean was with an outer skin made of stainless steel. :madgrin:

 

Nickel is quite toxic. It isn't as common as lead is/was in the everyday environment. That's why you don't hear of it often

Check here for a cite.

 

Ok, most metals are toxic in some forms and in sufficient quantity. Almost all of the hazardous effects they are talking about on that page are from various compounds of nickel, not nickel itself.

Based on your source, for nickel itself the oral LD50 (50% probability of death) for nickel is >9000mg per kg body weight. So a 200 lb adult would have to eat more than 1.8 pounds of nickel to have a 50% chance of dying. By comparison the oral LD50 for lead is 100mg per kg of body weight. The same 200 lb adult would only need to eat 0.3 oz, or 0.02 lbs to have a 50% chance of death. To make matters worse, your body can't rid itself of the lead, so that 0.3 oz is cumulative over your entire life. This appears to be less of an issue with Nickel.

Rob