According to an article in Auto Spectator “Hybrids Consume More Energy in Lifetime Than Chevrolet’s Tahoe SUV”. Yes, you heard that right…
CNW Marketing Research Inc. spent two years collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial concept to scrappage. This includes such minutia as plant to dealer fuel costs, employee driving distances, electricity usage per pound of material used in each vehicle and literally hundreds of other variables.
What were the results?
For example, the Honda Accord Hybrid has an Energy Cost per Mile of $3.29 while the conventional Honda Accord is $2.18. Put simply, over the “Dust to Dust” lifetime of the Accord Hybrid, it will require about 50 percent more energy than the non-hybrid version.
One of the reasons hybrids cost more than non-hybrids is the manufacture, replacement and disposal of such items as batteries, electric motors (in addition to the conventional engine), lighter weight materials and complexity of the power package.
And while many consumers and environmentalists have targeted sport utility vehicles because of their lower fuel economy and/or perceived inefficiency as a means of transportation, the energy cost per mile shows at least some of that disdain is misplaced.
For example, while the industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2005 was $2.28 cents per mile, the Hummer H3 (among most SUVs) was only $1.949 cents per mile. That figure is also lower than all currently offered hybrids and Honda Civic at $2.42 per mile.
The article further explains:
“If a consumer is concerned about fuel economy because of family budgets or depleting oil supplies, it is perfectly logical to consider buying high- fuel-economy vehicles,” says Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, Inc. “But if the concern is the broader issues such as environmental impact of energy usage, some high-mileage vehicles actually cost society more than conventional or even larger models over their lifetime.”
So if you’re trying to save the world, forget the hybrid, get the Hummer.
Hat Tip: CRC - Greenwatch Blog
Dems Propose Their Own Energy Plan? Ha!
After five years of Democrats blocking energy reforms brought forth by President Bush, Democrats have now proposed their own energy plan to allegedly move us toward energy independence. When I first heard about this, I thought, “this ought to give…
Trackback by Blogs for Bush: The White House Of The Blogosphere — 05/17/06 @ 3:45 pm
I’d ask you to do some research before you post things that spread rumors. I looked up studies from hybridcars.com, edmunds.com, wikipedia.org, foxnews.com, businessweek.com, and most convincingly, omninerd.com (links to studies below in respective order). All these studies showed that the article was, pardon my French, bullshit.
The articles unanimously agree that the fuel efficiency of hybrids surpasses that of standard mid-range cars by a landslide. The issues with Hybrid, is that the price tickets are significantly higher. This would normally be balanced out by a tax incentive; however, the Bush energy plan has been cutting back on pro-hybrid incentives. Emissions are clearly lower, fuel efficiency (while admittedly not as good as the EPA ratings, however this is true of all cars) is much better, and maintenance costs are significantly lower due to the regenerative braking systems.
While it cannot be proven at this point that hybrid cars’ efficiency outweighs the price tag (without the government incentive), fuel efficiently is certainly not the reason.
Go ahead and do the research, here are the sites I went to. Enjoy. Sucka.
http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/103708/article.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_car
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,195170,00.html
http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/jan2006/bw20060131_870391.htm
http://www.omninerd.com/2005/11/11/articles/41
Comment by Hunter Freyer — 05/17/06 @ 10:19 pm
Hummer H3 Has Cheaper Energy Life Cost Than Hybrids
So everybody thinks that hybrid vehicles are better for the environment than an SUV. Research on the lifetime energy cost of vehicles is showing that thought is more myth than reality. What do you know, the environmentalist nuts fooled the world aga…
Trackback by Independent Conservative — 05/17/06 @ 11:17 pm
Hunter–perhaps you should read a little more closely next time. I never said that hybrids are less fuel efficient, any idiot would know that, on the surface, hybrids are more fuel efficient. In fact, my post quotes Art Spinella, the president of CNW Research as saying “If a consumer is concerned about fuel economy because of family budgets or depleting oil supplies, it is perfectly logical to consider buying high- fuel-economy vehicles.” Obviously his study wasn’t attempting to prove that hybrids are less fuel efficient.
Instead, the study looked at the “dust to dust” cost of hybrid cars, “taking into account all of the energy needed to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial concept to scrappage. This includes such minutia as plant to dealer fuel costs, employee driving distances, electricity usage per pound of material used in each vehicle and literally hundreds of other variables.”
So, “sucka”, no, I wasn’t trying to say that hybrids are less fuel-efficient than Hummers. What I was saying was that the energy expended from the planning stage to the disposal stage of a hybrid is greater than that of other vehicles.
Comment by Bethie — 05/18/06 @ 10:00 pm