The Pious Prius Posse

Are you one of those people who sneers at anyone neaderthal enough to drive an SUV, or that current favorite of the gangsta rapper - the Hummer H2? Do you feel oh-so ecologically correct driving your Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid because you feel you're doing your bit to rid the world of harmful greenhouse gases and help the country kick the 'imported oil habit'?

Not so fast. While the Prius is the darling of the hollywood greenies from Larry David to Cameron Diaz, they may well be doing more harm to the environment than Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Hummer. Do I hear sharp intakes of breath and cries of "Heresy"?

Consider these facts:

1. All hybrid engines require batteries. Big honking ones that can store the energy required to power the car when it is on the electric cycle. These batteries are expensive. About $6800 for a Prius battery. So much so, that a hybrid car costs about $5,000 more than its conventially powered equivalent. Even with the current price of oil and given the average mileage driven by most people it would take more than 15 years for anyone to recoup the additional cost of the hybrid.
(Myth #1: Hybrids are cheaper to run: Exploded)

2. The average life expectancy of a battery such as the ones used in hybrid cars is 6 to 8 years. Less in colder climates. Nobody has yet figured out an environmentally friendly way to dispose of these batteries when they're dead. Since hybrids caught the attention of the eco-knuckleheads only about a couple of years ago, driving up production and sales, we are yet to come to the point when loads of hybrid cars are at the age where they need new batteries. That day is not far away, and when it comes - and come it will - we can expect to see tons of discarded hybrid batteries in our landfills leeching lead and acid into the earth.
(Myth #2: Hybrids are kinder to the earth: Exploded)

3. If hybrids get excellent gas mileage, it is because the gasoline powered internal combustion engine provides only part of the power. The battery-powered electric motor provides the rest. How are these batteries charged in the first place? By plugging them into a battery charger that is connected to the power grid. The hybrid battery requires a lot more energy to charge it since it's used to run the car, not just start it. So where's all this power coming from anyway? From power plants, which in the US are mostly fuelled by coal! Yes, that horrible black rock they dig out of the ground in West Virginia and other places. Places where people who dig the stuff out of the ground die because they get trapped underground. Yes the black stuff that when burned gives off carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and lots of sooty unburnt hydrocarbons in the from of thick black smoke. Not very pretty. Just because the smoke isn't coming out of your exhaust doesn't mean that an equivalent or greater amount of smoke isn't coming out of the smokestack of a power station that is generating the power to charge the battery in your hybrid.
(Myth # 3: Hybrids pollute less than gasoline powered engines: Exploded)

So what's a body to do? Here's my prescription: If you like cars and driving, buy the best car your money will get you, and then enjoy driving it. As for Larry David and Cameron Diaz, they both have enough money to go live in a bubble on the moon (maybe even together), when the earth becomes uninhabitable from their batteries.