Quit bashin' my ride!

Original: May 10, 2007
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I generally start each morning browsing through the opinion pieces on Yahoo! News. They're far more interesting than anything that passes for news these days. Like the news headlines, a good number of the opinion headlines have the word Iraq in them. These are generally the ones I click on first.

One of the headlines that caught my eye yesterday morning was "Dave Johnson: Paying The Costs Of The Iraq Occupation -- And Stopping It." Go ahead and follow the link if you'd like, but it wasn't the content of his post that prompted me to add my own two cents. Johnson ended his thoughts about paying for the war in Iraq with this: "This is an opportunity for Bush supporters to -- for the first time -- do more than put "support the troops" stickers on their SUVs." It was his not-so-subtle bash on SUVs that caught my attention.

I drive a Jeep Wrangler, before that it was a Jeep Cherokee that I finally beat into submission after about 200K miles. It's true, they burn a little more gas than your average rice burner, but I can drive it just about any damn place I want. I'm guessing Mr. Johnson drives a Prius, or some other such go-kart-like debacle. (Yes, that is disdain you hear in my voice, I can't stand those freakish little things.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not ignorant of our need to protect our environment; it is imperative that we be good stewards of the gifts God gives us. All the light bulbs in my home are fluorescent, I participate with enthusiasm in our city's recycling program, I fertilize my lawn with its own clippings, and so on… But you can't convince me that my SUV is a bad thing, especially if you compare it to a hybrid vehicle. Let's take a look at that little halfling, the Prius.

It depends on two engines. The first is a small internal combustion engine, used mainly for initial acceleration (0-30 mph). So if you live and drive in the city, don't spend the extra money for a battery you'll barely use. The second engine, used to keep the car moving once it's up to speed, is driven by that battery city-dwellers won't use. It's this second motor, specifically the battery, that is cause for the greatest concern.

The battery is made from nickel that is mined in Sudbury, Ontario and is smelted in a nearby facility. The sulfur dioxide produced by the mining and smelting operations and vented into the local atmosphere, and the resulting acid rain, has left the surrounding landscape barren to the point that NASA has used it for training because of its similarities with lunar landscape.

Toyota purchases about 1,000 tons of this nickel from Canada each year. From Sudbury, it is shipped to Wales to be refined, and then on to China where it is turned into nickel foam. The nickel foam then travels from China to Toyota's battery plant in Japan. All in all, it travels about 10,000 miles via container ship and diesel train. Plus the trip from Japan to Suburbia, USA.

When you look at the whole life of the car, from concept to scrap yard, the Prius ends up costing, in energy dollars per mile, about $3.25 per mile over an expected 100,000-mile lifespan. This figure takes into account everything from design costs to fuel burned in parts transport to electricity used in production, and myriad other factors. Apply all those same factors to enemy #1 of the green police, the Hummer, and you get an energy-cost average of a whopping $1.95/mile. A list of the top 10 most energy efficient vehicles (whole-life) includes my Wrangler in the number three spot at $0.60/mile. The list does not include any hybrid vehicles.

Put most simply, used energy produces pollution of some kind; over its entire life a Prius will use approximately 80% more energy than my Jeep.

To Mr. Johnson I make this request: Next time you feel the need to talk smack about Bush and/or his supporters, leave us SUV drivers out of it. I'm going four-wheeling.

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DC offline had this to say:

Frikkin' fascinating! If your numbers are right - that's great news; I loved my Wrangler (and gave it up for reasons other than environmental, by the way).