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Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days.
So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.
So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.
It's been a couple of years, but I remember a flurry of articles reacting to a deeply flawed study that said, in effect, that a Hummer is greener than a Prius. The major evidence offered was the manufacturing of the hybrid battery needed in the Prius, and that since the manufacturing of hybrid batteries was bad for the environment, somehow that made Hummers greener than hybrids.
Just what do you do with all those batteries when they are replaced?
My understanding is they are not very recyclable.
From the second article I linked to:
"There are also basic factual errors in the report, for example CNW claim that the hybrid batteries are not recycled.
"In truth Toyota and sister brand Lexus have a comprehensive battery recycling programme in place and has been recycling Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) 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."
"There are also basic factual errors in the report, for example CNW claim that the hybrid batteries are not recycled.
"In truth Toyota and sister brand Lexus have a comprehensive battery recycling programme in place and has been recycling Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) 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."
Excellent, so if I buy one and it takes a 500 mile drive to recycle this battery, will you come and get it?
Unless they get the battery charge time up, there will never be an electric car...you'd hit the range limit and sit there for 6 hours waiting for it to charge. You could never take a cross country trip, or even move in a reasonable amount of time.
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