electric/hybrid batteries are "green" ??

[Caeser25]

So the green weenies want me to move from a foreign oil based car to a foreign battery based car that is mined from radioactive mines all in the name of green green is the new red, unless they're trying to bring about the zombie apocalypse sooner by going green I see this doing nothing but giving communist China more power, hence green is the new red.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_754030.html

[polymorpheous]

My understanding is that these batteries are quite toxic.
I call it "green-washing".

No one tells you to consume less to be "green".
But they will always tell you to buy more "green".

This is a clue.

[Honu]

ditto others green battery ?

I always get into it with green heads

so I say !!!! do you know where batteries come from ? they dont grow like mushrooms they have to mine the material which of course takes HUGE diesel powered machines and a lot of them destroys huge areas of earth and then the material has to be processed usually in HUGE coal burning polluting plants and then put together in more plants that burn coal and the plastics and such to house the batteries come from another plant and then they are all shipped more diesel trucks and then in the end where do you think the energy comes from ? coal burning plants to charge your system up !
and when they say solar I say SO now you have solar that take battery banks so repeat this process and then repeat again for the solar panel process

you are actually in the end using more energy and consuming more of the earths resources ! but since its blind to you for some stupid reason you feel better about yourself !
and when it comes time to recycle the batteries ? they are toxic and take a lot of special care to recycle using a ton more energy again

pull your head out lets get good blutec diesels in this country in every manufacture and we will be ahead !

ignorance these days with the green movement is insane

[120mm]

Hybrid vehicles are a "moron detector" to me.

So, you think getting marginally better mileage is worth the extra cost, extra weight and toxic waste dump running around on four wheels?

You, then, are an idiot.

The exact same vehicle without the hybrid drive would get only slightly less gas mileage and cost far less and be better for the environment.

[Honu]

while newer cars are way safer than 80s cars funny how some of the early hondas toyotas and such got really good mileage ?

[orionz06]

Re hybrid drivers are morons:

I have been almost hit by more hybrid vehicles than any other, while commuting 10 miles to work on my bicycle (a noted "green" method of transportation).

[Jer]

Hybrid vehicles are a "moron detector" to me.

So, you think getting marginally better mileage is worth the extra cost, extra weight and toxic waste dump running around on four wheels?

You, then, are an idiot.

The exact same vehicle without the hybrid drive would get only slightly less gas mileage and cost far less and be better for the environment.

Uhm... no. On all counts.

I bought my wife a Camry Hybrid and I can assure you that I'm not a moron (blanket statements like that serve only to make the individual making them look ignorant themselves) by any stretch of the imagination. Her car doesn't get marginally better fuel economy either, it's noticeable. A good example is her folks (speaking of morons) were interested in her Hybrid when we got it back in 2007. They instead decided to save about two grand and buy a Honda Accord 4cyl which wasn't even comparably equipped. It didn't have nav, leather or a lot of the other features the Camry had so to compare apples to apples they would have got one with more features and would have spent as much or more. The funny part is they let some salesman convince them that they were only saving about 3mpg by going with the hybrid but that's on the highway and on paper. The reality of it is that not only does her car get DOUBLE the fuel economy around town and combined regular driving but it also is MUCH faster than their gutless Accord that has such a worthless engine in it. On top of that their car is already out of a warranty and her car still has one. Their car has been in and out of the shop several times and her car hasn't been in once which was surprising to me for a first model year/new technology model.

In the four years we've owned the vehicle we've saved thousands and thousands of dollars in gas and all the dooms dayers stated that they battery would crap out in 70k miles and would cost $8k (due to supply lines all going to new production at the time) to replace. Funny, we've exceeded that and it's still going strong plus Toyota added a full 100k to ALL hybrid components so we're covered even if it fails. It's been an amazing car and I don't put it in the same category with the Prius and other 'tin can' style hybrids and this is evidenced by how many of our friends went out and bought Camry Hybrids after being in ours. It's been an amazing car for four years and I don't see it being any less for at least the next four. I don't think they're for everyone but I also don't think lifted 4x4 V8 trucks are for everyone either.

[Jer]

while newer cars are way safer than 80s cars funny how some of the early hondas toyotas and such got really good mileage ?

Take a look at the CRX. What a cool car that was. My buddy had the Si w/a manual transmission and that puppy was pretty darn quick too. They were inexpensive, looked good, lasted, got good gas mileage and best of all were affordable. The problem is all the safety and technology has added gobs of weight which adversely affects acceleration which is how most American base a large part of their vehicle buying decision. We've become addicted to speed so to continue to meet those requests while meeting government requirements on safety and technology fuel economy has to suffer unless some magical power source can be discovered.

[CarlosDJackal]

Back in 04 I was looking at Hybrids and Diesels to replace my SUV until I finally settled on the Civic Hybrid. I started looking at the numbers and in comparing it with the other Honda Civic models I could not understand what the hubub was about.

Back then the life expectancy for the batteries was about 80k at a cost of $8k to replace (I understand it has gone way down since). The MPG wasn't all that different than a regular Civic and even with the tax credit offered back then, I knew I would end up in the hole if I bought the hybrid because of how much I drove.

So I bought a Civic EX (non-hybrid). I now have almost 150k miles on it and have posted gas mileages of up to 45 MPG (all highway) with an around town average of 34 MPG.

Am I glad that I did not buy the hybrid because I probably would have had to replace its battery at least once and maybe twice. Plus it's "green-ness" is offset by the fact that the batteries it uses cannot be recycled and would have to live in a dump for a very long time.

Just like the Flex fuel craze, hybrids are for suckers. Unless they can come up with longer-lasting batteries that can be reused or recycled, I'm not even going to consider them.

Plus, I have yet to come across a hybrid driver who wasn't a moron. I mean really, just because you drive a hybrid of some sort it doesn't mean you should be driving on the fast lane at BELOW the posted speed limit. There is no such thing as a "Hybrid only lane"!!

[orionz06]

In the past, not within the last 3 years, the cost for ME to own a hybrid vehicle well exceeded the cost to own a 2008 VW Rabbit. Consequently I bought the Rabbit.