Myths and Half-truths About The Toyota Prius

If you're a regular visitor to this blog you may have noticed I quite like the idea of getting a Prius as my next car. Of course, that all depends on whether I can find a used one at a price I can afford....

Until then, I've been doing some research to see if a Prius is really for me. After all, there's not much point in buying a low emissions car, if I can't stand driving it, or it's unreliable.

I'm discovering some interesting things. For instance, Toyota, like most Japanese motor manufacturers, build some of the most reliable cars going (See here) so Prius's show up in many top 10 reliable car lists (e.g. Which? and MSN cars) [Note: The Honda Insight - also a hybrid - is nearly always number one!].

Another thing I've discovered is that, the moment you mention the word 'Prius' around a car enthusiast, they'll gleefully tell you something like "You do realise the Prius has a bigger carbon footprint than a 4x4/SUV?" or "the mine where they dig up the nickel for the batteries is destroying the environment".


So I decided to look into these claims:

1) They have a larger carbon footprint than a Hummer (Myth)
This claim is based on a study by CNW Marketing Research, Inc. which attempts to work out the total amount of energy used in the lifetime of many cars from their design to their eventual disposal. According to it's findings, some 4x4s (or SUVs as they're called in the States), have a smaller footprint than the Prius.

One reason for this topsy-turvy conclusion is they've made the assumption that a Prius will have a much shorter working life than a 4x4 e.g. The Prius is assumed to have an average life of 109,000 miles whilst a Hummer gets 379,000 or 3.5 times the life of a Prius. That skews the end result in favour of the Hummer because it's based on dividing the total energy by the number of miles! 

A full rebuttal of this myth can be found here. That's not from a green website but an ordinary car review site called 'thecarconnection.com'.

Footnote: CNW have since revised their data and now place the Prius ahead of the Hummer.

2) Mining nickel for their batteries destroys the environment (Myth)
This claim seems based on a report from the Daily Mail which implied that Toyota was getting it's nickel from a mine which was destroying the local environment. In fact, Toyota have only been buying nickel from there in significant quantities for the last few years, whilst the environmental destruction happened over 3 decades ago. Full details here.

3) Diesels are more fuel efficient than the Prius (Half-truth)
If you look here, you'll find the top 10 best cars for fuel economy in the UK. The Prius is only number 10 behind 8 diesels and another hybrid (that Honda Insight again). So, yes, there's an element of truth in what they say BUT it's hardly a fair comparison. Just take a look at the list - It's made up of the Citroens C1 to C3 and varieties of the Renault Clio - All 'super-minis', whilst the Prius is a mid-size family car. In other words, it's bigger/heavier. And yet, it's only 3 mpg or less behind the smaller diesels. That shows you just how good the Prius is.

The Battery (The white thing)

4) The batteries don't last and cost a fortune to replace (Myth & Half-truth)
Actually the batteries DO last a long time. Toyota have tested them to the equivalent of 178,000 miles. This is why they're happy to cover them with a 100,000 miles, 8 year warranty. If you check out the Prius owner websites, you'll find the batteries are not an issue. In fact, there are posts about taxi companies with entire fleets of Priuses, many with high mileage, that have never had a problem.

The reason for this? Nickel-metal hydride battery technology has come a long way in recent years. So the things just last.

As for the batteries costing a fortune to replace: This is true if you want to buy new (They cost between £2000 and £3000!). However, you can get ones with low mileage on them (from wrecked cars) over the internet for around £500. You can also get a decent rebate/'bounty' for your old battery from Toyota who want to recycle them.

Another option is to get someone to reconstruct the battery which may work out even cheaper.

-ooOoo-

Bottom-line: There are a lot of myths, urban legends, and half-truths circulating out there about the Toyota Prius. Don't believe anything you hear or see until you've checked the facts.

An Electric Vehicle Experiment

A BBC reporter has decided to try driving an electric vehicle (EV) from London to Edinburgh to see if it can be done.

Most motorists take such journeys for granted: 373 miles (600 km)? No problem. However, for EV drivers, the experience would be somewhat different (as the reporter is discovering).

Brian Milligan set out from London on Monday (10th Jan.) in an electric Mini and hopes to reach Edinburgh some time  tomorrow (13th). It's not taking 4 days because he's taking in the sights on the way, it's because he has to stop every 50 to 80 miles to recharge the car, and each charge takes up to 8 hours! This highlights the problems EVs have over range per charge, and the time it takes to refuel.

Another problem is the rarity of charging points in the UK at present. This gave the reporter some anxious moments as he wondered if he'd even make it to the next point. He's often had to resort to turning off the heater to conserve power and increase range.

You can follow his adventures here. The link includes short videos on such things as what you need to carry around to charge your car, how little luggage space there is in an electric Mini, how you charge up your EV, and planning the trip.

The reports make up a useful guide to some of the issues of EV ownership. Unfortunately, given the conditions of the experiment, it also makes them look lame. Which is a bit unfair.

You'd have to be a complete idiot if you bought a current EV with the expectation of using it like a normal car. Even the most basic research makes it clear they are best suited for driving round town: Charge the EV overnight, drive it around all day, then stick it back on charge.

Most people's car journeys are round-trips of less than 100 miles - well within the range of most EVs (the Mini seems to be a notable exception) - So the range shouldn't be an issue most of the time. And, for those trips over a 100 miles? Use your second, petrol powered, car, or public transport, or hire a car.

Clearly, EVs aren't ideal for everyone but, for a family like ours - with weekly mileage of less than 50 miles, and a second vehicle - it would be great.

One day, EVs will have a range more like petrol cars, will charge in a fraction of the time, charging points will be everywhere, and EVs will have a comparable price to a standard vehicle, but that's a few years away still.

Update: He made it!

UK Govt. Announces List of Electric Cars Eligible for Grants

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

The UK Government issued a list today of 9 electric vehicles (EVs) that will be eligible for a grant of up to £5000 from Jan. 1st 2011.

The cars are the Chevrolet Volt, Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi i-MiEV (pictured), Nissan Leaf, Peugeot iOn, Smart Fortwo ed, Tata Vista EV, Toyota Prius Plug-In and Vauxhall Ampera.

Of these, only the Mitsubishi, Smart, and Peugeot will actually be available for delivery at the beginning of 2011. And only the Mitsubishi can be bought, £24k after the grant, the other 2 will start off as rentals. The Nissan and Tata will arrive in March. The Citroen "Early 2011". The others in 2012.

Apparently, the Vauxhall, Citreon, Mitsubishi, and Peugeot are basically same car re-badged with a few mods!

Interestingly, the established EVs - like the Tesla and G-Wiz, amongst others - are missing from the list. Strange. It's almost like the government are trying to prevent a rush on the grants.

Whether or not that's the reason, I'm betting it's frustrated a lot of people who were hoping to make use of the grant come the New Year.

Hydrogen Cars Headed For Leicester

A UK company called Riversimple are preparing to pilot their 2-seater hydrogen powered car in Leicester come 2012.

They will be working with the local council to rent 30 of their vehicles out as car-shares, company cars, and for private use. The scheme will run for 12 months. If successful, Riversimple hope to go into production in 2013.

Interestingly, they want to challenge everything about personal transport, from the design of the car to ownership. For example, instead of just selling their cars, they want to offer a number of "service packages", rather like mobile phones. So you might rent your car for a period, then either return it or extend the rental at a reduced price. The aim would be to reward people for using a vehicle for longer (which would lower Riversimple's costs).

See a video of the car here.

Electric Bikes

Whilst I was looking for ways of cutting down on car journeys to work (I went for a combination car sharing and cycling in the end), one of the options I considered was an electric bike. I thought some of you might like to hear what I found out.

The term 'electric bike' can refer to a bicycle or scooter. I didn't really bother with scooters but they were priced from £1500 to £4000 and look pretty cool (See here for more).

Electric bicycles are useful if you've got hills on your route (as I have), don't want to arrive at work in a sweat, or have a longer journey than you're prepared cycle. You can still get some exercise when you want to though, as you've still got pedals and the motor is under your control.

They're priced at between £390 and £1900. There are plenty of models to choose from and even include folding varieties.

If you want to, you can even adapt your existing bike for around £350. Though I'm not sure how universal the kits are.

They seem to have a range of between 20 to 35 miles on a single charge. Each charge costs around just 5 to 7 pence. The batteries give around 2000 charges and cost about £190 to replace.

The bikes are limited by law to 15 mph. Kids under 14 are not allowed to use them.

Disadvantages: They don't usually go up hills without some help via the pedals (so no free ride there!); The battery makes the bike noticeably heavier than the non-electric equivalent; Relatively short range per charge; Relatively expensive way to buy a bicycle; Because of their relatively high price, they may be a preffered target of bike thieves.

Ideal for the commute to work. A possible cheap alternative to buying a moped.

More to look at here.

"This Will Change The World"

About 10 years ago there was intense speculation on the internet about a certain project Ginger. Something amazing was about to be revealed to the World. Something, so monumental that even Steve Jobs, boss of Apple, described it as important as the PC.

Then, after literally months of frenzied Web chatter, the something was finally revealed: The Segway.

It was a 2 wheeled, self-balancing, electric vehicle for one (See picture). A very clever form of personal transport that used a gyro to keep it upright regardless of the terrain.

So what's happened to it since? Well, it's still around, believe it or not, although it's hardly the World changer it was promised to be. There are several reasons for this lack of impact: The first is that you look a bit...odd on one. Like someone saying "Hey! Look at me!". Yes, it certainly gets you noticed. Just not in the way driving a Ferrari might; The second issue is the price. At the time of writing, a basic version will set you back £4795! So they're basically the playthings of the wealthy (JK of Jamiroquai has got some).

To date, only about 50,000 have been sold.

I kind of hoped that they might come down in price like many 'gadgets', but no chance there: They seem to be steadily getting more expensive.

I guess the technology makes the Segway so pricey (The gyros; a clever battery; robust design; etc.), but imagine if these things were priced like mopeds? Then they really might be a world changer: Eco-friendly transport for the masses.

Imagine that.

Cheapest Hybrid Car

It's kind of frustrating to want to get your hands on a second-hand hybrid (i.e. electric/petrol engined) car but find they all seem to be £8k+ in price. I just don't have that amount of money to throw around.

However, I've kept going and discovered that the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight aren't the only game in town. The problem with them is that they're too recent to have come down sufficiently in price. What I really need is a hybrid that's been around for a while and was made in large enough numbers to be easy to find now...

Enter the Honda Civic IMA. They've been around since 2003, they're hybrids and you can find them for as little as £4k. Apparently they're a good drive, reliable, a lot cheaper to run than my current car, and have a third less carbon emissions.

Worth a look!

Note: Apparently hybrid sales in the States have dropped dramatically recently - especially the Prius. I guess this is down to the recession, the imminent arrival of a range of electric vehicles and, in the case of the Prius, bad press with all those recalls.

Toyota Add The Auris To Their Hybrid Range

It looks like Toyota are hoping to build on their dominance of the hybrid car market by giving the Auris the same system as the Prius.

A new one can be yours for less than £15000, about £4000 less than the Prius.

However, it looks like the Auris hybrid makes hard work of hills due to the extra weight of the batteries. Oops.

Taking One For The Team

Note to Self: Another drawback to cycling to work is birds crapping on you as you pass below....

Hydrogen Fueled Cars

Ever heard of the Honda FCX Clarity? No, me neither until about 2 weeks ago.

It's a car which runs off hydrogen and it's only emission is...water. A concept car surely? No, this is apparently a fully formed car based on technology that's as well developed as that for electric cars.

Not only that, but it seems the car is good to drive too.

One drawback though, as this article points out, Honda have no plans to sell in the UK because we won't build the infrastructure (e.g. fuelling points) until there's sufficient demand. But, of course, there can be no demand until people can actually run the things!

Let's hope the new government decides to take another look at this one.

P.S. One slight concern I've got about the technology which doesn't seem to get mentioned anywhere, is that the hydrogen that fuels these cars is produced by breaking down water. Trouble is, water is likely to be a scarce commodity in many countries in the near future. Will this fuel actually be sustainable?!

Of Car Sharing and Folding Bikes

Well, I've been doing the car-sharing-to-work/cycle-home thing twice a week for about 5 weeks and it seems to be working quite well.

It's saving me money, cuts my carbon footprint, helps keep me fit, and means fewer visits to the petrol station.

Unfortunately, only a third of my route is bicycle lane, so I'm at the mercy of car drivers for the rest. Thankfully, most of that part is fairly quiet, with only 2 short busy sections. Strangely, the bike journey is only slightly slower than by car.

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For those who are interested in such things, my bike is a Raleigh Swift. I've no previous experience of folding bikes but I can say it's not the sort that's easy to carry about! It's heavy (16kg), takes up a surprising amount of the boot in a family car, and it doesn't even have a convenient hand-hold for lugging the folded version around with.

On the plus side, it's quick to fold and unfold, is quiet to pedal, has most of the features of a regular bike like mud-guards and a stand, and has a prop to keep the folded version upright.

There are lighter and more compact folding bikes out there, but they seem to be far more expensive: I've seen ones topping £1000. Mine was 'just' £160, so I'm happy with what I've got.

Nissan's Electric Car

Nissan are going to be manufacturing their new electric car - The Leaf - in Sunderland, UK starting 2013. They plan on making 200,000 worldwide annually. More details here.

The car is a 5 seater hatchback and they go on sale here in the UK at the end of 2010 (Shipped in from Japan or the U.S. presumably, their other plants). They claim that it will be the first affordable, mass produced electric car in the world.

Early buyers in this country will be able to make use of the government's subsidy that they will make available from the beginning of 2011 for all electric vehicles (EVs) and plug in hybrids. The subsidy is 25% of the price of the EV up to £5000.

In my view, Nissan's entry into the affordable end of the market is essential to get the EV ball rolling. It's a name people know and trust, they have showrooms all over the country, and they've designed something that looks as good as any standard petrol car.

Electric vs. Hybrid Cars

Believe it or not, electric cars have been around since the late 1800's. Indeed, they even out-sold petrol driven cars for a number of years after their arrival. They practically disappeared after the 1930's, but had a brief comeback in the 1990's before being withdrawn under mysterious circumstances. A few years on, and they are beginning to re-appear again. This time, it seems, they're here to stay.

One day, I'm sure, most cars on the roads will be electric. At the moment though, buying an electric car over a 'normal' one isn't a straight forward decision, even for a committed environmentalist.

On the one hand, you have a car which produces no carbon emissions or pollutants, costs just 1 to 2 pence a mile to run, has zero or very low annual road tax, avoids congestion charges (in London), has very low servicing and maintenance costs and, in some cases, won't ever rust because it's made of plastic.

On the other hand, most electric vehicles are relatively expensive to buy, have limited range (Typically 40 miles or 64 km per charge), generally look odd, are not big enough to be a family car, and the batteries cost a fortune to replace when they eventually fail.

I also wonder how much support you might get if you don't live near the manufacturers or a salesroom. For example, if I lived in Cornwall and had a new car shipped from London because it was my closest salesroom, would I get adequate backup should something go wrong with, say, the charging system?

So, it looks like electric vehicles are currently more suited to local commuting in cities which have electric car salesrooms. Certainly, they're becoming an increasingly common sight in London, where there are plenty of reasons for driving them. Elsewhere in the UK, I think it's going to take a while for them to appear in any numbers, particularly in rural areas where the limited range will be a deciding factor.

Given time though, the problems will be solved, and manufacturers will open outlets in many more towns and cities. Electric cars will then have their day (More about Electric Cars).

Until then, the way to go seems to be a hybrid car like the Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid. They have all the advantages of a normal car like size, range and street cred, but they use less fuel (Particularly in towns) and pump out far less emissions (around 40 - 50% less CO2 than the equivalent size petrol car). What's more, buying a 4 or 5 year old hybrid can cost you less than £8000.

Mega City Electric Car Review on YouTube

Part 1
Part 2

This is the first electric car I've seen that looks good AND comes in at a near reasonable price (£12k).

There seems to be an awful lot of others about to hit the market this year from the 'big boys' like Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Smart which'll make things even more interesting.

If you're planning on changing your car and want to help the environment, you want to consider an electric car instead. And, if money's no object, you might want to look at a Tesla.

Green Cars

Want to see what's out there in terms of 'green' cars? This site is great for news and reviews: Green Car Site. You'll even see that the electric car is back after it's mysterious disappearence in the '90s ;).

This is another one I like: Cars that run on air.