Originally Posted by WSUWESTON

I read a journal awhile ago regarding the total use of energy through the life of a hummer vs. a prius. When you take into acount the process to build, drive and dispose of the hummer is better for the enviroment. I believe it was an university that did the research, I just can't remember which one.

Originally Posted by mr_schuster

Just think thats the "average battery", I remember when the the first Prius rolled out and had their battery issues, we had to replace a few here and there at a cost of around $5000, (This was warranty work of course)

Compare two cars side by side the Honda Civic and the Honda Civic Hybrid.
http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hybrid/
http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-sedan/

The hybrid Civics cost 22,600 and the regular Civic costs 15,010.
The hybrid gets 45 MPG ( which is BS so do some of the new fords )
The regular Civic gets 36 MPG
A big 9MPG fuel difference between the two cars and a price tag difference of $7590. (and to think the govnerment is giving tax breaks to the people who buy these "green" cars. Shame on them.

So, 1 gallon of fuel in NC is $3.30 right now, if I purchase the regular Civic and pocket the $7590 difference between the cars I can purchase 2300 gallons of fuel. 2300 gallons of fuel at 36 MPG I can drive 82,800 miles. This is given that fuel prices remain constant and I drive on the interstate all day.
The average person puts 12000 to 15000 miles a year on a car. Lets average that for everyone at 13,500 miles. I can drive this regular Civic on that $7590 price tag difference for a little over six years. Most people, I am guessing here, would sell there vehicle at either 100,000 miles, between and 8 and 10 years of ownership or after the warranty expires.

The Hybrid has longer wait times for repairs, because only factory certified hybrid techs are allowed to work on these. These technicians are not exactly by the dozens in the dealerships. Alot of the technology is new and technicians will take longer to diagnose these hybrid related problems as they try to familiarize themselves with the technology. Parts availability I am not so sure about, so I can't comment on that. As for Hybrid batteries, just look at the cost of replacement if it failes outside of Hondas 5/60000 mile warranty. If I owned the Honda hybrid or Toyotas Prius I would get rid of it before the expiration of the warranty.

Now go buy some gas for your 5.7L Tundra...

Originally Posted by stormin94

If all this is true, then Hydrogen is our only hope, if not, I guess it's back to burnin whale oil.

Originally Posted by fishon1213

I am pretty sure the hydrogen is derived from burning fossil fuels, not to mention the hydrogen vehicles cost 5x and normal car and the motors don't last. Hydrogen is not the answer. Hydrogen is the rabbit racing around the track and we are the greyhounds. Ethanol is just plain inefficient. I just read up on a producing oil from algae farms, and the algae can digest chemical waste! Check out oilgae.com. Also there is a documentory out called "Who Killed the Electric Car". It talks about the EV1 that GM produced a few years back, until exxon bought the rights to the technology GM was using and wouldn't let them put the cars into production. They wouldn't go very fast and you couldn't haul a bunch of passengers around but you could plug them into a regular wall outlet to charge them and get from A to B. I don't generally care for General Motors but if I could go to the dealership and buy an EV1 I would go as soon as I finish this sentence.