Is Your Hybrid Car Doing Irreparable Damage to the Environment?

In a recent episode of "South Park" the citizens of the small Colorado town became obsessed with hybrid car ownership and the resultant feeling of superiority a fuel efficient automobile allows. Unfortunately for them, these cartoon characters didn't realize that their warm and fuzzy feelings were also causing an alarming increase in the creation of "smug."

Eventually their "smugness" created an environmentally dangerous "smug" cloud that threatened to destroy their town entirely. Imagine what would happen if all of the "smug" hybrid drivers in Los Angeles created such a cloud? No doubt it would threaten to cover the entire western seaboard.

But in the same mindset, are hybrid cars as good for the environment as we have been led to believe? The unfortunate answer is that in most respect hybrid cars are actually far worse for the environment than vehicles motivated by gas or diesel power. What are the reasons for this?

First off is the problem inherent in manufacturing the nickel/hydride batteries used in vehicles like the Toyota Prius. Unfortunately for Toyota's environmental credibility the mining of nickel is one of the most polluting enterprises known to man.

Toyota currently mines all of its nickel ore from a facility in Ontario, Canada that Greenpeace has called one of the top ten most polluting manufacturing sites on the planet. This facility is so polluted that no plant or animal life exists within a ten mile radius of the plant. Apparently NASA has leased out parts of said land for training astronauts in moon landings such is the desolate nature of the landscape.

After mining all of the nickel ore Toyota then ships it to a manufacturing site in China that turns it into a foam like material that is then injected into the batteries. As China does not follow the same environmental protection practices as its western neighbors little is known as to what goes on at this factory. If it's anywhere near as bad as the factory in Canada then it is doubtful that Al Gore would still want to drive his Prius.

While much has been made of the fact that nickel/hydride batteries are now rechargeable it must be remembered that this fact only applies to the exterior battery module. Everything inside the battery has to be replaced and the old battery material will need to be disposed of somewhere. Apparently the government is trying to get Nevada to take on the epic amount of battery waste that will be created but what are they going to do? Close Las Vegas and turn it into a toxic waste dump?

After the battery is finally completely manufactured it is sent to Japan where all the components create a Prius. But that is not the end of the pollution. As the Prius is currently only made in Japan it then needs to be loaded on hugely polluting transporter barges for destinations across the globe. By buying a car that is locally built you are cutting down on its "carbon footprint" immeasurably. So it is actually a far more environmentally sound decision to buy a Toyota Camry built in Kentucky even though its gas mileage isn't quite as good as that of the Prius.

For many people, the allure of buying a hybrid car stems from the fact that you can sometimes squeeze nearly 50 miles out of a gallon of gas. But for those out there who feel that they are somehow more responsible citizens of the planet by buying these hi-tech machines it's time they do a little thinking and realize they would probably be better off buying a Honda Civic. The gas mileage in a Civic is nearly as good and a larger percentage of its parts are recyclable. And even better, you never have to worry about having to replace the batteries.