Environmental Costs of Buying a Toyota Prius

Weighing the Harms and Benefits of Hybrid Vehicles

Apr 15, 2009
Vanessa Padgalskas

Jetta Diesels at a VW dealership - AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Although the Prius is fuel-efficient, the production of hybrid car batteries pollutes the environment. Clean diesels could reduce more carbon emissions than hybrids.

Driving hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, seems like a viable way to reduce carbon emissions, but before going out to buy a Prius, it is crucial to analyze the true environmental impact of hybrid cars and the alternatives to hybrid vehicles.

Environmental Costs of a Prius

When analyzing the environmental costs of a car, the energy to plan, build, and transport the car must be taken into account, not just the car's miles per gallon figures. The Prius has two engines, gas and electric. The electric engine is made from nickel mined and smelted in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. From Ontario, the nickel is transported to Wales, UK to be refined, then shipped to China where it is made into nickel foam, and finally to Toyota's plant in Japan where the nickel is made into a hybrid battery.

James L. Martin, president of the senior advocacy group called the 60 Plus Organization, claims in his article "The Hidden Cost of Driving a Prius" the hybrid battery travels over 10,000 miles from start to finish, which entails major fuel costs and pollution from transportation.

In "Hybrid Batteries Q&A" published in Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Newsletter, Gary E. Smith, national service technology manager at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, says Toyota does have a recycling program in place that rewards dealers with a cash payment for shipping a hybrid battery to Toyota for recycling. The full battery, including the nickel, can be recycled. Since the Prius has only been on the market for nine years, not many batteries have reached their full lifespan to test the recycling program.

Eco-Friendly Driving without a Hybrid

Rather than buying a new Prius as a second car or trading in your car, a more environmentally friendly option is to drive a car for its full lifespan. Andrew Davis of the Environmental Transport Association, a UK company that researches environmental transport issues, was quoted in Leo Hickman's February, 2006 article "Should I...buy a new or second hand car," published in the Guardian saying "...the length of time a car is kept is crucial. Buying a new car and keeping it for its entire life is more environmentally friendly than buying a one-year-old car every year."

Hybrids vs. Clean Diesel

Old diesel cars used fuel high in sulfur and their engines polluted more than gas engines. New clean diesel engines and clean diesel fuel "mean that diesels will be allowed to emit no more pollution than gasoline-powered vehicles," according to Tom and Ray Magliozzi in their 2007 Car Talk article "New Clean Diesel Fuel on Sale Now." The Magliozzi brothers also note that "diesels are actually 20 to 40 percent more fuel efficient," than gas engines.

New clean diesel engines, which meet emissions standards across the United States, could be an alternative to hybrids in reducing carbon emissions. The Jetta TDI was named the "2009 Best Eco-Friendly Car" at Chicago's Motor Week and "2009 Green Car of the Year" by Green Car Journal.

For the same price as a Prius, the Jetta TDI reportedly averages 40 mpg without sacrificing performance. The editors of Green Car Journal tested the Jetta TDI and were able to reach over 50 mpg by using basic fuel maximizing driving techniques.

The Jetta TDI sedan and wagon are both made in Germany and then transported to the U.S. Conventional lead/acid batteries used by clean diesels are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, do not require inputs to be shipped half way around the world, and 98 percent of lead/acid batteries are recycled according to Battery Council International statistics.

Diesel engines are known to last from 250,000 to 500,000 miles, about twice as long as a gas engine. This is environmentally friendly if owners drive their diesel for its full lifespan.

BMW is currently selling a diesel model of their 3 series, and Audi is bringing diesel models to the U.S. in late 2009.

The most environmentally conscious decision is to keep your current car for its full lifespan, drive less, and use public transportation when possible.

Sources:

Kaho, Todd. "2009 Jetta TDI Road Test," Green Car Journal. November 24, 2008

Vanessa Padgalskas - Vanessa graduated from American University in 2007 with a double major in International Studies and Economics. Her studies focused on ...

Comments

Apr 16, 2009 6:59 AM

Guest :

This article sounds as if it knows what it is talking about but it does not. The points it makes are spurious and wrong, and have been comprehensively debunked. The truth is so easy to find that whoever wrote the article seems to be purely vindictive.. or working in Detroit :-)

Apr 16, 2009 9:06 AM

Guest :

The cited CNW report is rubbish and is full of distorted "facts". This is not a valid reference to support the writer's argument.

It's true that newer technology will likely be less efficient to manufacture initially since the economies of scale don't apply, but that, by itself, doesn't mean hybrids are not worth investing in. Gas/diesel engine-based cars have over a 100 years of assembly line experience and infrastructure to minimize their production costs. It's not fair to compare that to a new technology; otherwise you're basically saying it's almost never worth changing approaches to any industry. Using solar panels to generate power is currently an expensive option, but those prices are falling significantly as more and more are manufactured. Hybrid prices would follow the same path when/if they continue in popularity.

I'm not sure hybrid vehicles are the true long-term solution, but I don't think the author provides valid criticism.

Apr 16, 2009 9:21 AM

Guest :

Purely vindictive? I thought the article was interesting. Sure, the author may have her facts a little off, but she hits a few good points. Her article made me think a little bit about the subject. I am still trying to figure out how she was vindictive.

Apr 16, 2009 9:37 AM

Vanessa Padgalskas :

Over 1 million hybrids have been sold globally, so who is to say Toyota has not reached an economy of scale. Even if they have not, the point of this article is that the production of a hybrid entails major environmental harms. From smelting the nickel to transporting it over 10,000 miles to its final destination. This does not happen with other cars, even diesels. This article is meant to highlight the environmental costs associated with building a car that claims to be eco-friendly. Maybe there are better alternatives: clean diesels or driving your current car its full lifespan.
That one source was a small part of the whole article, which was full of valid points.

Apr 17, 2009 9:00 AM

Guest :

Things are not always as they seem.

This article successfully brings this bigger and badly needed perspective that is often selectively overlooked or ignored when it comes to evaluating "green" technologies. In this case a specific product (Prius) that has become an icon for green vehicle technology has only recently been evaluated more on a broader range of merits.

Too often policymakers and consumers get greenwashed and only see a technology that is "different" and therefore they conclude "better" without looking at the big picture. There are many solutions to saving energy, the climate and the environment, and hybrid cars are definitely one of those. But as this piece points out, so are (suprisingly to some) diesel engines, which are the most fuel efficient internal combustion engine available, on average 20-40 percent more fuel efficient than a gasoline counterpart. The new generation clean diesel cars are competitive with hybrids on a number of levels. For many consumers that don't have lifestyles optimized to city driving and the hybrid cycle, driving a diesel car would make more sense, and there are now more choices than ever for consumers (www.dieselforum.org). When cradle to grave is considered as is pointed out here, it gets more complicated, raising "peak oil" questions for some and "peak lithium" questions for others.

In the end it is making real incremental improvements in fuel efficiency -- through taking more public transportation instead of cars altogether, driving more fuel efficient cars, better maintaining the cars that we already have, and investing in future fuel efficient and renewable technologies that will be needed.

Apr 23, 2010 12:34 PM

Guest :

The point is, well at least my point, that just because something is labeled "green" is not the end of the story. The best thing one can do is to decrease consumption, including green tech. consumption. A hybrid is not magic, it uses non-renewables in its production. Keep your used car, especially the efficient ones, until they are beyond repair, then, consider buying a new hybrid, if you really "need" a used car. There are many valid studies that show that it is more environmentally friendly to continue buying used cars, and using them until they are out of commission, than tossing them in a landfill and buying a new hybrid.

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