There are a lot of problems with some of those hybrids & electric cars anyway. First, during manufacture, it travels more, even to different continents, thus using more fuel and energy than your average vehicle. There are still emissions—reduced only about 10-15%. And running on electricity means that the energy has to come somewhere (usually a petroleum/coal power plant); translation: it’s powered by the dirtiest energy source out there. Battery from China to boot, plus it’s short-lived (3-5 years), so more overseas shipping and more often. The battery’s really the worst offender, since there’s more heavy metals in it than the older lead/acid ones (which I know aren’t all that great either), such as copper and nickel. Nickel is a carcinogen that can affect the environment when the battery is improperly disposed of, not to mention the actual mining is extremely toxic to the environment (and who knows how it affects the people doing it!). China has no environmental regulations and you can find aerial shots showing big yellow splotches where the mines have damaged the surrounding land. Copper has its own problems; mining it means blowing off the top of a mountain, killing trees and animals (aka strip mining), and it brings up other toxic metals such as arsenic, antimony, and lead among others..Concerns about sitting in it, surrounded by electromagnetic fields, are cropping up along with similar ones related to cell phones. Plus electric cars still have a distressing tendency to burst into flames..They are also more expensive to maintain even without the extra cost of replacing the battery every 3-5 five years, and simply drive slower and handle rottenly.http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Hybrid_Vehicles_Negative_Environmental_Impacthttp://auto.howstuffworks.com/5-reasons-to-not-buy-hybrid.htm#page=0http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/does-hybrid-car-production-waste-offset-hybrid-benefits1.htm
dawnsfire about 9 years ago
There are a lot of problems with some of those hybrids & electric cars anyway. First, during manufacture, it travels more, even to different continents, thus using more fuel and energy than your average vehicle. There are still emissions—reduced only about 10-15%. And running on electricity means that the energy has to come somewhere (usually a petroleum/coal power plant); translation: it’s powered by the dirtiest energy source out there. Battery from China to boot, plus it’s short-lived (3-5 years), so more overseas shipping and more often. The battery’s really the worst offender, since there’s more heavy metals in it than the older lead/acid ones (which I know aren’t all that great either), such as copper and nickel. Nickel is a carcinogen that can affect the environment when the battery is improperly disposed of, not to mention the actual mining is extremely toxic to the environment (and who knows how it affects the people doing it!). China has no environmental regulations and you can find aerial shots showing big yellow splotches where the mines have damaged the surrounding land. Copper has its own problems; mining it means blowing off the top of a mountain, killing trees and animals (aka strip mining), and it brings up other toxic metals such as arsenic, antimony, and lead among others..Concerns about sitting in it, surrounded by electromagnetic fields, are cropping up along with similar ones related to cell phones. Plus electric cars still have a distressing tendency to burst into flames..They are also more expensive to maintain even without the extra cost of replacing the battery every 3-5 five years, and simply drive slower and handle rottenly.http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Hybrid_Vehicles_Negative_Environmental_Impacthttp://auto.howstuffworks.com/5-reasons-to-not-buy-hybrid.htm#page=0http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/does-hybrid-car-production-waste-offset-hybrid-benefits1.htm