Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. [...] The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid. [...] The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.
Whoops! Why would Toyota even build this beast? I recall reading somewhere that they get credits from the government that offset government penalties on their SUV sales - they get to keep more of the profit from the products that people really want to buy. There’s no invisible hand at work, here.
One Comment
Hi,
I don’t follow the logic here. What’s the connection between cost and the environmental impact? What’s the connection between the first sentence and the second sentence of this post?
What’s the math here and what’s the “cost of manufacture”, repairs, and cost of fuel and other disposables?
I suspect that the lower cost (which has nothing to do with environmental impact) is due to spreading out the cost of manufacture over 300K miles instead of 100K miles.
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Furthermore, if the assumption that the Prius goes 100K miles and Hummer goes 300K miles is taken as valid, and you add the point that the Hummer gets 10MPG while the Prius gets 40MPG, then the conclusion that the Hummer “will last three times longer than a Prius” is questionable. In fact, the Hummer will be on the road for less time than the Prius.