Did anyone see the last episode of Boston Legal? It featured a case that involved a company that monitored other companies "Green" efforts and put them on a list of green companies if they met the criteria. One of the lawyers on the show was really knocking hybrid vehicles because one of the defendants mentioned he drove one. She mentioned these points specifically: That the environment is being destroyed by the harvesting of nickel for the batteries. That the fuel and energy burned in the harvesting and end use of these materials (if added to the fuel used in the operation of the vehicle) actually made the hybrid more expensive to operate than other high mileage cars that use strictly ICE engines. That because the vehicles get better mileage, people drive more in them. This negates the increased mileage because the burn the same amount of fuel. Crazy. One of the things that they forgot to mention is that the actual amount of CO2 being put into the atmosphere is greatly reduced per gallon burned, no matter HOW MANY gallons are consumed. That is one of the great pluses of driving the prius. I know that this is only a TV show.....but how many of these facts will turn out to be true? I hope that none of them do....I love my Prius everytime I pull up to the pump!
Evidence exists for all of those claims, whether they're true or not I don't know. Yes its just a TV show, but if I were a real lawyer in the same situation I'd have used the same information against the witness whether I believed it were true or not.
OK, not a Prius owner yet (only rented an 04 in 04). I was totally sold that everything including my desk chair should be hybrid. BUT, an independent company (forgot which one) rated the greenest cars from 'dust to dust' , read from creating to recycling it, and the Scion box van came in 1st at about69cents/mile. Prius was about slightly better than average($2.69ish) at $2.49/mile. The mining of the nickel is true and an easy google as is the transport and creation of the battery. I think the longer you drive 1 Prius, the more we all benefit from it(or at least the longer one Prius is kept running on the road). I think pure plug ins would be cleanest overall. I do think the 'will drive more/further' argument was TV legalese...Still my fave network show though.
I saw it. Never believe TV. The cost factor for the Prius was figured with the Prius ONLY having a life of 109,000 miles. Yea! Right! The Canadian nickel source scourge is a result of mining from (I think) the late 1800's to the present. Not just from being a source for hybrid batteries. The list goes on!!!
Funny as it may be. I never watch the show, but there was nothing on that night and I just happened to switch to that particular scene. No idea what the lawsuit was about, but heard part of the whole "knocking on hybrids" part. Couldnt swallow the bs, so I turned the TV off. These points have already been argued to death. From what I remember from the arguments, toyota only uses about ~1% of the nickel mined at that specific plant. Plus, the plant has been mined since the early 1800s, and has since been restored. been discussed to death, plus other studies shows thats not true at all. Most of the energy used comes through the use of the car. Oh dont forget Toyota recycles the batteries from the hybrids. right, cause I would rather drive a prius whose 0-60 time is ~10 seconds, vs a viper whos 0-60 time is ~3.5 seconds (or some other sports car)....please.... quoted for truth.... and now you know that the bs that that lawyer spewed is utter....well....bs. btw, this has been discussed to death.
Well, one of the allegations is true, at least as it applies to our family: We drive the Prius more than the Altima it replaced. We do this not because it is more fun to drive or a more glamorous car to be seen in. Instead, we drive it more because we are driving the Sienna less. The total miles are not increasing, but our total gasoline use is certainly shrinking! So, Yes, we drive the Prius more than the car it replaced. But the effect is much less carbon emission.
All the BS mentioned in Boston Legal have been thoroughly debunked: http://www.thecarconnection.com/Aut...MMER_Exploding_the_Myth.S196.A12220.html?pg=1 There are other articles out there on the web. harry
The show perse wasn't trying to make a statement imho just showing how the argument could be made various ways.
I love Boston Legal and was saddened to see them put the nickel plant crap on TV. It was the same load of crap as that magazine article from last year and mostly based on exaggeration and half truths. The bottled water bit was quite close to true, too bad they got hybrids so wrong.
Again, she's playing a lawyer. If she could make an argument that the sun were green and that dirt can be used to replace food and use that to benefit her client, she would be legally obligated to do so. Being right isn't important.
All the claims are bunk. I did drive my Prius extra miles the day I bought it: I went on the freeway about ten miles out and back. So in the almost 4 years I've had it, I drove it 20 more miles than I'd have driven my old car. However, you are mistaken on one point: You state above that In fact, a gallon of gasoline burned converts all the carbon in that gallon of gas into CO2. All the other pollutants are reduced in a Prius because it is SULEV. But carbon is carbon, and unless you sequester it it all becomes atmospheric carbon dioxide.
