The current edition of "Car and Driver" (magazine) has an interesting article about the dark side of the hybrids on page 26. The date on the cover is September 2005.
Many of the so called "greenies" have purchased hybrids because they really care about the environment. I learned about something from the article that I had never thought about before. What's going to happen to those millions of batteries in hybrid vehicles after they wear out? They will be placed in landfills. Imagine the harm that those batteries may do to the enviroment after they are laying in a landfill for 50 years.
If you own or are planning to buy a hybrid vehicle, I advise you to read the article.
It's hard to argue with a 97.1 percent recycling rate for battery lead, and no other battery chemistry can come near that number.
Car batteries are not disposed of. Their materials - mostly lead -- are recycled indefinitely. The battery industry has been continuously recycling and reusing lead from old car batteries for more than 50 years. There is virtually no recycling process for other chemistries, and it's hard to even imagine the cost of developing a recycling process and infrastructure comparable to what we already have with lead-acid batteries.
Hello, You may be right. I have not done any research on this subject. Brock Yates--the author of the article--stated the following in his article: "[Batteries] are hardly biodegradable items like spoiled vegetables. They are in fact self-contained toxic waste dumps. How and where millions of these poisonous boxes will be deposited ... has yet to be considered, much less resolved." Jason
Maybe the author of the article should have done a little actual research. Here is what Toyota has to say about battery replacement and recycling:
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How long does the Prius battery last and what is the replacement cost?
The Prius battery (and the battery-power management system) has been designed to maximize battery life. In part this is done by keeping the battery at an optimum charge level - never fully draining it and never fully recharging it. As a result, the Prius battery leads a pretty easy life. We have lab data showing the equivalent of 180,000 miles with no deterioration and expect it to last the life of the vehicle. We also expect battery technology to continue to improve: the second-generation model battery is 15% smaller, 25% lighter, and has
35% more specific power than the first. This is true of price as well. Between the 2003 and 2004 models, service battery costs came down 36% and we expect them to continue to drop so that by the time replacements may be needed it won't be a much of an issue. Since the car went on sale in 2000, Toyota has not replaced a single battery for wear and tear.
Is there a recycling plan in place for nickel-metal hydride batteries?
Toyota has a comprehensive battery recycling program in place and has been recycling nickel-metal hydride batteries since the RAV4 Electric Vehicle was introduced in 1998. Every part of the battery, from the precious metals to the plastic, plates, steel case and the wiring, is recycled. To ensure that batteries come back to Toyota, each battery has a phone number on it to call for recycling information and dealers are paid a $200 "bounty" for each battery.
Elliot Richmond Freelance Science Writer and Editor
All I'm saying is, Toyota is spinning their side of the story very hard.
Don't accept it at face value. You're a fool if you do. They have an axe to grind, and they'll spin it however they have to in order to make themselves look as good as possible and sell as many cars as possible.
In other words, never listen to a car salesman. And that's all that PR piece is.
"Steve Bigelow" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:
NiMH and NiCd can only be recharged a number of times before their capacity drops off,and L-A batteries suffer from sulfation,electrolyte loss,and vibration/shock damage(material falls out of the lead grids,shorts the cell). Hot environments like the Southwest and Florida will shorten battery life further. I don't know of any rechargeable battery chemistry that can be recharged
recycled indefinitely. The battery industry has been continuously recycling and reusing lead from old car batteries for more than 50 years.>Brock Yates--the author of the article--stated the following in his article: "[Batteries] are hardly biodegradable items like spoiled vegetables. They are in fact self-contained toxic waste dumps. How and where millions of these poisonous boxes will be deposited ... has yet to be considered, much less resolved."
After February 8, 2006, all batteries in California must be recycled, ortaken to a household hazardous waste disposal facility, a universal wastehandler (e.g., storage facility or broker), or an authorized recycling facility.... It looks like that's partly due to federal regs, but I'm too lazy to look.
Pfft, missing the point. The point is that they're ONLY getting
40-45mpg. Many non-hybrids on sale in the EU will easily beat that. For isntance, n the UK, a VW lupo returned to one of the most outspoken motoring journalists int he world, an AVERAGE of 65mpg Hybrids are a Pr stunt only.
Hmmmmmm. I'm not saying to believe or disbelieve; I'm simply pointing out that, like any good corporate PR machine, Toyota is spinning their side of the story very hard in order to sell more stuff. By that token, you shouldn't simply believe it wholesale without investigating it more.
But because I'm saying that, you decide that Toyota's press release must be 100% correct and truthful?
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