my students are not happy about the Prius

Youth is wasted on the young.

The kid putting 20/day in his truck needs to pay his own gas from his own wages. I'm just sayin'.

Viewed another way, gas is too cheap.

 

I live the reverse of you: the children are interested by the Prius III : can be its design ?They know that the car is not like the others one.

 

I'm not sure what subject you teach, but this can definitely be a teaching opportunity don't take it as dumb kids.

The battery pack is very expensive, don't try and dumb it down and act like there are 8 module so eight battery packs. You can talk about Lithium and Nimh coming down in price and how cool and fast electric can make things, get a couple of tesla shots.

Then you can go into economics about how long that car will really last, and how much of the countries dollars go to foreign governments when the kids put $20 of gas in their trucks.

I wouldn't try to get them to like the prius, I don't that will happen, but you may be able to make them think about energy, technology, and economics which are good things.

 

There is some good in everything. As long as kids continue to think this way, our cars will continue to be the least stolen cars in the USA.

That is fine with me.

 

I would assume he meant the whole battery pack, and you'd be shelling out $4K every 3-4 years.
In that case:
* They are guaranteed for 8 yrs/96,000 miles (at least in my case, longer for some places, not sure about Gen I and Gen III cars)
* Used ones can be found online (from wrecked cars and such) for $300 (which is the price Toyota pays to make sure they don't end up in land-fills, so the resale price can't drop below that, even with the apparently low demand for replacement batteries). Going thru a dealer and getting brand-new batteries might cost 3 grand.
* the traction battery (high-voltage battery pack that drives the wheels, not the little 12-volt battery) uses NiMH chemistry, not lead-acid, and charge/discharge rates are computer controlled to protect battery life. They do not have the same life as a 12-volt battery in a regular vehicle. There are multiple reports of people having logged over 200,000 miles on the original battery pack.

But yes, the student was definitely misinformed. I heard comments like that when I first started driving the Prius, but they've tailed off the last couple years.

 

That's funny, my 8 year old daughter wants me to take good care of my 09 Prius so I can pass it down to her in less than 8 years when she starts driving. But then again, when we went to the 2009 Auto Show in San Diego when she was almost 7, her favorite part of the show was the Hybrid and Electric Car section. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?

 

You are an educator... educate.

 

Discuss being a good steward of the earth.

Show them Ebay, discuss supply and demand, why are the batteries so cheap? Because they really do last the life of the car.

Well it IS the only way to ever be impressed by a Mustang.

$20 a week day is $5000 a year, discuss economics, investment versus upkeep.

 

Good idea about the politics... you wouldn't want an angry parent coming in.
I don't know,,, if this Gen III was around when I was in HS and had an oppertunity to buy ($$) I would have given it serious thought. I like the tech. I know there are at least a couple of teenage members here.

 

Let's leave religion out of this.

Tom

 

No, it's a maturity thing. Some people will never accept it.

 

The local middle school is just down the street from my house. My 07 Gen 2 was parked out front when it was brand new. Several boys stopped on their way to school as a group, all were exclaiming how cool the car was, they knew the mileage numbers, they knew about hybrid technology. Of course this was in 07 when the Prius was not the most common car on the road
I think you just got the wrong age group

 

Oregon coast vs rural Indiana.

Kids reactions will have a lot to do with where they are. They have grown up in different environments.

 

You are living in a place where the population must be smarter. That's what the adults say around here. That's no joke.

 

Same for me. I do a lot of school runs and the kids I take love the Prius. I get asked some very inquisitive questions by kids of all ages and they like the fact that I've got an fuel efficient cab.

They do appear quite interested in environmental matters.

 

Ah, yeah, I was 17 once. Certainly there weren't hybrids of the automotive type around then...

But yeah, I do see "teachable moment" (to use an overused phrase that I really don't like) written all over this. Do you teach math or economics? You could give them the more obvious homework or extra-credit assignment of calculating at what point, given a set of assumptions including fuel cost and economy, would you "break even" (to use another overused phrase that I really don't like, at least applied to the Prius, but...) compared to an equivalent-as-possible non-hybrid--let's say the Matrix, or if your students prefer, a Pontiac Vibe.

Another more challenging assignment, one for the smart kids or the smart-nice person kids (not necessarily mutually exclusive by any means), would be to assume two people:

Person A buys a brand new 2010 Dodge Mastodon or whatever at a price of a million billion dollars, getting an impressive 0.7 mpg (in the words of the late, great Mike Royko, 'I made these statistics up, but they're probably true...'). - Nah, make it a real example, but pick a domestic, fuel-swilling SUV or truck, and use EPA numbers;

Person B buys a 2010 Prius.

The question is, at what point in time, if at all, given assumed or projected fuel prices and known but current fuel sources (countries, including the US), does Person A begin to contribute more to the US trade imbalance than does person B? How does this change if you figure in a carbon tax of XX%? What if Ahmedinejahd gets a hair up his hoo-hoo and shuts the Straits of Hormuz? What about the effect of China's booming economy and corresponding increase in oil consumption? (I don't know the answers, but it would make a great project, and if the answer is never, so be it, as long as they work their butts off and learn a bit about global economics, math, and the massive and barely controllable uncertainty surrounding our lives).

You could also have them calculate carbon footprints, differential lengths of time to cresting the 'peak oil' hill and plummeting irreversibly down the other side, etc., given, again, a bunch of assumptions.

Break the class up into teams and have them research the assumptions.

Integrate the 'tangential' economic effects into the equation, too--have them calculate the effect on the trade imbalance if Toyota ever goes through with plans to build Priuses in Mississippi.

For something more qualitative, for discussion, ask their opinions on what is better for the US, having foreign nameplates build in the US, or vice versa? Make them defend their answers. (I recall hearing a few years ago--too lazy to try to look up a cite at the moment--that the vehicle with the highest domestic content was the Honda Civic, built in OH, w/ >90% US/Canada-sourced parts--do not know if this is still true, or for that matter ever was).

Many possibilities--have some fun with it! (And doesn't Toyota have a factory in IN that produces trucks? If so, don't forget to point that out, and ask if any of the students own one).

Focus on making them think and research rather than trying to prove any particular point, and let the chips fall where they may. You might also want to give an intro about primary, secondary, tertiary and useless sources and why Wikipedia isn't a primary source (not to mention some schmuck on the 'net regurgitating the old 'Hummer is better than a Prius' chestnut).

~T

p.s. - I do think the "I'll never be able to look at you the same way" comment was pretty funny, in a clinical sort of way.

 

The school year is beginning and there are many more important subjects to teach than Prius economics. If one of the kids offers something that is inaccurate, it is best to say, "That is not what I understand from PriusChat.com but lets get back to the subject . . . "

If they persists, ask them to check their sources . . . and send them here. ("My teacher made me ask . . . ") <GRINS>

Bob Wilson