Prius - A mobile air filter?

A + B != A (for all positive values).

There is still 'combustion' carbon dioxide and monoxide are still produced.

The 'air' that the Prius burns is still full of the same contaminates.

 

It can certainly burn incoming particulates and CO. NOx, I don't know. And of course it will make more CO2 and water vapor.

 

I'm not so sure. An average hydrocarbon street reading on a smoggy day can be in the tens of PPM. Out of a cat-equipped car, it can be in the single digits.

Combustion is not merely additive, especially when a catalyst in involved.

 

Ohhh, damn that catalytic converter.

I plain-out forgot about it! Stupid 27 year old invention! It's older than I am! It's Prihistoric!

Humm... I still see very little change in the equation.

Let's say you are driving the Prius in an area where there is a high concentration of smog (Nitrogen oxide (NOx)) at street level. Most likely this occurs in heavy, stop and go, traffic. During those times, the ICE on the Prius doesn't run as often; nothing is being burned and forced through the 'cat'. In traffic, the Prius doesn't run enough to cause a significant change in street level Nitrogen oxide levels.

Considering that every vehicle has a cat on it... The smog that is present at street level has already been through a cat. Most of the smog in a city is produced by industrial equipment; not cars.

 

The Prius may use half the gas and thus emit half as much CO, CO2, NOx, etc. (Maybe even a tad less than a half as much because the gas motor is more frequently run at peak efficiency/lower emission conditions with the motor/generator picking up the slack/absorbing the excess). However, it still emits those things as it burns gas; it does not burn CO, CO2, or NOx! Therefore it is inevitable that it adds to their concentration of pollutants in the air. It is by no means an air filter!

I love my Prius, and am glad that it is less environmentally hostile. However, it would be dishonest to say that we are saving the earth by driving Prii - we're just trashing it less.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius\";p=\"100886)</div>

The v50's radiator has a coating that "cleans" the air by acting as a catalyst with ozone...
http://www.volvocars.com/AboutVolvo/Enviro...t/CleanOutside/

Sounds like a PR gimic.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius\";p=\"100886)</div>

It may remove some of the particulates from inside the cabin. However, the cabin volume is small, and the air exchange rate is modest, compared to the immense volume of air outside the car.

If you really wanted to capture all the important emissions (like COx and NOx) from your own tailpipe much less the tailpipe of others, you would need to capture and store hundreds of pounds per year. That's obviously not taking place in any car, even one as "green" as the Prius or the Honda Insight or...