Listen to Your Mother

My mom is a smart lady.

She researches like a fiend (particularly with Consumer Reports) before making any major purchases. She's been interested in automobiles lately...namely, hybrid cars.

Now I said my mom is a smart lady; not just for her researching capabilities, but she's also taking many steps to keep her home green and eco-friendly, which brings me back to hybrid cars. She wanted me to research to see if those Prius ads have any merit (that is, if plants really dance as you drive by in your ozone-layer-saving vehicle). Well, here you go mom.

Yes, hybrid cars use a battery that saves the air from your pollutants. But what about those batteries? They don't last forever. Nickel-metal hybrid batteries are cheap to make, but have a short lifespan. The other option, lithium ion batteries, are more expensive to manufacture but have a longer lifespan.

Battery components from hybrid (and even electric) cars will eventually end up in landfills, unless they are recycled. Nickel has environmental risks....not very green at all. "There are also concerns about the environmental impacts of nickel mining, and apparent challenges with fully recycling the nickel used in hybrid batteries," according to HybridCars.

According to Carseek, "The reality is that emissions results have as much to do with the drivers as the cars themselves." If you buy a Prius and drive that bad boy all over the place, your EPA numbers will look pretty green. However, if you buy the hybrid SUV, you may have similar gas mileage to conventional gasoline-drinking autos.

So mom, take all this info for what it's worth and choose wisely. Well, I suppose I wouldn't expect anything less of that gal.

Interested in more stuff about green cars? Check out GreenCarReports.

-Beth