Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage

[FFFIT33]

March 7, 2007
LINK

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage
By Chris Demorro, Staff Writer

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

Follow the link above for the rest of the article...

[Peakster]

The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

Ouch. Who came up with that number?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Ah yes, on average a Prius will only last ~100k miles, while a Hummer will last ~300k miles. That'll be the day...

Originally Posted by Peakster

Ouch. Who came up with that number?

CNW Marketing. Because marketing companies definitely know more than automobile manufacturers do about the expected lifetimes of their vehicles.

[Matt Timion]

This article, or a version of it, has been posted before.

See here to view previous debunking of this article.

http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=1473

[zpiloto]

Originally Posted by FFFIT33

Cost to replace the batteries almost the cost of the entire car...

How much for replacement batteries?

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by zpiloto

How for replacement batteries?

I'm guessing by giving away the car with the problematic pack and buying a new one. Realistically, the batteries run ~$1000 if you can DIY, and if you can't, add whatever the cost of having a company doing the conversion, i.e. reflash the ECU so it can deal with excess capacity and plug-in abilities and solder the batteries in. Iirc, the plug-in conversion is pricey, but possible, however I expect costs will drop as more and more Prius' need to have their packs replaced, in a decade or so.

The 150,000 figure for battery lifetime was based on a DOE study, and who knows how much further the batts could've gone. Iirc, they stopped because the average car doesn't make it past 150k miles, so why bother testing past that? If anyone wants the text I think I can dig it up.

[zpiloto]

Originally Posted by omgwtfbyobbq

I'm guessing by giving away the car with the problematic pack and buying a new one. Realistically, the batteries run ~$1000 if you can DIY, and if you can't, add whatever the cost of having a company doing the conversion, i.e. reflash the ECU so it can deal with excess capacity and plug-in abilities and solder the batteries in. Iirc, the plug-in conversion is pricey, but possible, however I expect costs will drop as more and more Prius' need to have their packs replaced, in a decade or so.

The 150,000 figure for battery lifetime was based on a DOE study, and who knows how much further the batts could've gone. Iirc, they stopped because the average car doesn't make it past 150k miles, so why bother testing past that? If anyone wants the text I think I can dig it up.

So if I have to spend $1000-2000 after 150k I'm happy with that. Batteries are getting better and cheaper as time goes on. I hope after 150K the cars worth more than $2000

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by zpiloto

So if I have to spend $1000-2000 after 150k I'm happy with that. Batteries are getting better and cheaper as time goes on. I hope after 150K the cars worth more than $2000

Oh yeah. b4tt3ry5p4c3 d0t c0m has 1.2V 12ah batts for $15 each. Put 'em into the 7.2V six batt modules gives ~86wh/module. Compared to the stock capacity of ~48wh/module this give ~1.8 times the original capacity, and the required cost is ~$2500. The cheaper versions are ~$600/kwh, compared to the ones I initially mentioned at ~$900/kwh, but the expensive ones probably last longer, although there's not much info from the manufacturer spec sheets. I'd probably buy a enough to build a module of each and test 'em myself. So, for ~$1-2k now, you can get batteries that will double your current packs capacity. The hardest part would be tricking the computer into using the pack properly, but I'm pretty sure there are ways around this.

[JanGeo]

My friend that bought a used one said she can get the battery replaced for about $2000 - her plan is to trade it in for a newer one - maybe a 2008 model.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by omgwtfbyobbq

Oh yeah. b4tt3ry5p4c3 d0t c0m

?

Do you mean www.batteryspace.com?