Hummer's have less end-to-end energy costs than hybrids

tryptych

waiting for a time
Hummers have less end-to-end energy costs than hybrids

Spinella spent two years on the most comprehensive study to date – dubbed "Dust to Dust" -- collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a car from the initial conception to scrappage. He even included in the study such minutia as plant-to-dealer fuel costs of each vehicle, employee driving distances, and electricity usage per pound of material. All this data was then boiled down to an "energy cost per mile" figure for each car (see here and here).

Comparing this data, the study concludes that overall hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids' energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs.

For instance, the dust-to-dust energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile. This is quite a bit more than the $1.949 per mile that the elephantine Hummer costs. The energy cots of SUVs such as the Tahoe, Escalade, and Navigator are similarly far less than the Civic hybrid.

As for Ford cars, a Ford Escape hybrid costs $3.2 per mile – about a third more than the regular Escape. But on the whole, ironically enough, the dust-to-dust costs of many of the Ford non-hybrids – Fusion, Milan, Zephyr – are not only lower than comparable Japanese hybrids – Prius, Accord -- but also non-hybrids – Seville, Civic.

Spinella's finding that a Hummer on the whole consumes less energy than a hybrid than even some smaller hybrids and non-hybrids has infuriated environmentalists. And on its face it does seem implausible that a gas-guzzling monster like a Hummer that employs several times more raw material than a little Prius' could be so much less energy-intensive. But by and large the dust-to-dust energy costs in Spinella's study correlate with the fanciness of the car – not its size or fuel economy -- with the Rolls Royces and Bentleys consuming gobs of energy and Mazda 3s, Saturns and Taurus consuming relatively minuscule amounts.

As for Hummers, Spinella explains, the life of these cars averaged across various models is over 300,000 miles. By contrast, Prius' life – according to Toyota's own numbers – is 100,000 miles. Furthermore, Hummer is a far less sophisticated vehicle. Its engine obviously does not have an electric and gas component as a hybrid's does so it takes much less time and energy to manufacture. What's more, its main raw ingredient is low-cost steel, not the exotic light-weights that are exceedingly difficult to make – and dispose. But the biggest reason why a Hummer's energy use is so low is that it shares many components with other vehicles and therefore its design and development energy costs are spread across many cars.

It is not possible to do this with a specialty product like hybrid. All in all, Spinella insists, the energy costs of disposing a Hummer are 60 percent less than an average hybrid's and its design and development costs are 80 percent less.

One of the most perverse things about U.S. consumers buying hybrids is that while this might reduce air pollution in their own cities, they increase pollution – and energy consumption -- in Japan and other Asian countries where these cars are predominantly manufactured. "In effect, they are exporting pollution and energy consumption," Spinella says.

But while the environment has dodged Ford's hybrid foray, Toyota has shown no planetary concerns. It is going full throttle ahead with its plan of putting one million hybrids on the road by the end of the decade. Nor is there much hope that it will back-off in the near future given that it has already sunk $2 billion just in hybrid-related research and development, Spinella points out. Ironically Ford and some of the other car makers' exit from the hybrid segment means that Toyota will be able to consolidate its domination in it even more.

Thus the only hope of prodding Toyota to get out of the hybrid business would be if its customers jumped off the Prius bandwagon and embraced non-hybrids – even Hummers -- instead.

Now here's a catchy slogan for the next Save the Earth campaign: Have you hugged a Hummer today?

http://www.reason.org/commentaries/dalmia_20060719.shtml
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
Kerrazy.

Really good that this study has been done cos it's important to realise these issues aren't as straightforward as they may appear.
 

swears

preppy-kei
Yeah, but if hybrids become the standard in the long run, won't they be greener to mass produce? We need better public transport anyway...
 

dssdnt

Member
Kerrazy.

Really good that this study has been done cos it's important to realise these issues aren't as straightforward as they may appear.
This 'report' is hardly neutral, it's a piece of ideological dung from a 'free markets will fix the world' organization. Did anyone read around the website from which it was linked? Maybe sort your sources next time (not to mention, the plural in your title) ...
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Yeah, but if hybrids become the standard in the long run, won't they be greener to mass produce? We need better public transport anyway...
Yeah, they pretty much say that in the article - But the biggest reason why a Hummer's energy use is so low is that it shares many components with other vehicles and therefore its design and development energy costs are spread across many cars. It is not possible to do this with a specialty product like hybrid. - but then skip over the obvious conclusion to announce that we should produce fewer hybrids not more...
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
That said, there's a valid point in there that fuel economy isn't the only thing about a car that pollutes, and we should be looking at minimizing things across the board rather than focussing on one statistic.
 

tryptych

waiting for a time
This 'report' is hardly neutral, it's a piece of ideological dung from a 'free markets will fix the world' organization. Did anyone read around the website from which it was linked? Maybe sort your sources next time (not to mention, the plural in your title) ...

I do apologise for my grammar slippage. And yes, I'm fully aware of the ideological bias of the source... Just thought it was interesting. Even if the data is correct, it's still no argument for owning a Hummer - but it might be an argument for not owning a hybrid, at least in the present climate.

Driving less seems to be the most obvious solution.
 

vimothy

yurp
Actually old news, but had to grin at this though:

This 'report' is hardly neutral, it's a piece of ideological dung from a 'free markets will fix the world' organization. Did anyone read around the website from which it was linked? Maybe sort your sources next time (not to mention, the plural in your title) ...

*When I agree with research findings, everything's fine, but when I don't, they're ideologically skewed*
 
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