Buy A Hummer Save The Planet...?

by ryan | May 29, 2007 at 01:28 pm | 2801 views | 10 comments

2007-05-03 19 Sylt2007 - Westerland - Hummer in der Strandstr

UPDATE: 13.12.07 - 'Mr. Green' of the Sierra Club has written an extensive retort to suggestion that a Hummer is better for the environment than a Prius. Worth reading...if you're still interested that is.

The iconic Hummer has evolved from utilitarian military vehicle to nouveau riche status symbol; its users embody consumerist, gas guzzling society which is driving the globe to the brink of destruction. While those with the wisdom and foresight are paying premiums for cars such as the Toyota Prius hybrid and are hailed as saviors.

In the now familiar environmental war, the Hummer is evil and the Hybrid good. However, a closer look reveals that this may not be the case and that Hummer drivers are the ones with the environmental awareness and Prius drivers, let’s just say, are doing more harm than good.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer
that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already
noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel.
The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This
plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding
environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test
moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is
shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in
Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel
foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries
are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip
required to produce a single Prius battery.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust
to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical,
fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of
other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs
an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles -
the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per
mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles.
That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use
less combined energy doing it.

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Victoria Revay

at 14:41 on May 29th, 2007

I never thought about it...the materials used to make a hybrid are damaging the environment more?

moonwolf

at 14:49 on May 29th, 2007

Hey Victoria,

Human beings create a "footprint" no matter what. The challenge is to consider the benefits over time against how big the print and where it falls, before we put our foot down.

Have you read "Cradle to Cradle" by William McDonough and Michael Baumgart?

jordan

at 14:44 on May 29th, 2007

good stuff:

100,000 miles seems like an awfully short lifespan for a car... also, I think many consumers think in terms of cost per mile once they buy the vehicle, not really thinking about where the vehicle came from or how it got made; this seems to be a recurring issue: groceries, vehicles, diamonds... Oh, and I can't see another Hummer article without mentioning this link: a bit of silliness, really.

ricknight

at 07:12 on May 30th, 2007

the link was priceless!... funny

Devin Lussier

at 16:48 on May 29th, 2007

I'm very skeptical of this study especially considering that Toyota's reputation for quality far exceeds that of GM so the 300,000 miles for a hummer's life vs. 100,000 for a Prius is a little far fetched. If they really want to do apples to apples they must assume both cars will last for 100,000 miles. And in terms of true-cost-to-own for consumers they must also take into account things like insurance prices.

cronewynd

at 16:43 on May 29th, 2007

Hmm, my Prius came with an 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty on the Hybrid drive train. Seems to me that Toyota expects it to last a good, long time.

Plus, it's a Toyota, which has always been a quality car (last Toyota had over 360,000 miles on it).

I'll stick to my Prius... after all, I don't have to compensate for a teeny-weenie.

prius owner and proud of it

at 20:55 on May 29th, 2007

Ryan asked me to use a picture of my prius on this article. I declined. Here is my response to him and what I think about this article.

[cut]

Ryan:

I would like to give you a reason why I rejected your use of
my Prius picture in your article.

I don't think you read the report that was quoted in your
article. I admit that I have not read this report in its entirety, but I am not
writing a comment about it. On the report author’s web site, they have the
report posted along with a few other items. One of which is a commentary that cites
the report; another is the author’s explanation of why the Prius is expected to
last only 100,000 miles. The report is 458 pages. When given the choice between
reading the 458 monograph or the 3 page commentary I think most people will
read the commentary. I did however read a few pages out of the report to get a
feel for what they did. I also checked out the other material there.

I think the commentary is misleading and misrepresents the
findings of the report. I also think that the report is flawed, mainly in the
idea that the Prius will last on average 109,000 miles.

The misleading commentary:

If you read this report, you will see on page 21 that the H1
has a Dust-to-Dust cost per mile (D2D cost) of $3.505 and an estimated life
(life) of 379,000. The H2 has a D2D cost of $3.027 with a life of 197,000 (page
22) while the H3 has a D2D cost of $1.949 and life of 207,000 (page 24).

The author does correctly notes that the report has the
Prius at a D2D cost of $3.249 with a life of 109,000.

Therefore, I believe that the statement "That means the
Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy
doing it" is false and misleading.

The flawed report:

Note that the reason that the report's author cites to use
100,000 as the life of the Prius is that the average miles driven per year was
6,000 or so. They figured that 15 is the max life in terms of time given
technology concerns and so 6*15=100.

However, they do not note the reason why the H1 had an
extraordinary life of 379,000. Following their logic, the hummer is driven over
25,000 miles per year on average at the least (~= 379,000/15). Note that if
they say that the Hummer will last more than 15 years, they must admit that the
Prius will last more than 15 years and increase the life of the Prius (which
allocates more of the fixed cost, reducing D2D cost). It’s hard to believe that
the average H1 is driven more than 25,000 miles a year.

There are additional flaws in the author's logic that I will
not go into because I have already spent way too much time on this.

I think the company has an agenda and did not make this report
independently and in good faith.

This is why I did not want you to use my photo in your
story.

[paste]

I have a Prius and an Insight. My Insight has well over 100,000 miles (six years old) and still kicking.

Joe

bloomerific

at 06:23 on May 30th, 2007

I was also asked for permission by Ryan to use photos of my Prius. And I am also not granting permission. He can do a Google search.

And as ANY consumer knows...the Toyota engine one of the longest lasting out there...hybrid or not. My dealer took my '98 Camry with 225K on it as a trade in for my Prius and paid me $2500. That tells you something right there.

The Prius may come with the 100K warranty (like most cars), but I expect my car to last me well into the 200K range and farther. Way past my car loan. :) I don't buy the idea that it will only last to 109K. What do you think it is, an Escort? Never mind, an Escort wouldn't even get that far.

More mindless anti-global warming/anti-environmental policy propoganda, imho.

seaweasl

at 21:55 on May 29th, 2007

While I don't disagree that nickel is harmful to the environment, so is the lead in the Hummer's lead-acid battery. Assuming a 5 year life expectancy for the battery (of course this is totally up for debate as it depends on factors like climate and how often you start your Hummer), and a 12,000 miles per year of driving (average right?) that's 5 batteries in that 300,000 miles the Hummer will supposedly last. Luckily both the Hummer's lead-acid and the Prius's NiMH are recyclable. Both metals are mined however to get their raw forms. China is the number one producer of lead. I have not found any information about their environmental programs. Here is a link to Canada's nickel mining plant plans. http://tpc.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/tpc-ptc.nsf/en/hb00416e.html

I have not been able to find any information about whether or not raw materials are even used to make batteries these days. It is entirely possible that mostly recycled resources are used. And if you are basing your Hummer purchase solely on nickel mining in Canada, I think you are on shaky ground. This subject has been debated for nearly a year on Digg. http://digg.com/tech_news/Why_Your_Hummer_Consumes_Less_Energy_Than_a_Prius

I think I'll stick to my Prius.