Plug-in hybrids still emit carbon dioxide, which remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Carbon emissions are causing climate change and the world is literally on fire because of it. Just because the Prius has reduced carbon emissions doesn’t mean it’s environmentally friendly.
And emissions aren’t the only terrible health effects gas has on our communities. Gas stations in my town continue to leak benzene and other chemicals from an underground storage tank spill that occurred 30 years ago. Exposure to benzene has been linked to leukemia, and children who live near gas stations are at increased risk of developing leukemia. Are kids important in this “greenest car” contest?
We cannot afford to reduce our gas usage. You have to go out of gas. We should have done that decades ago.
suzanna saunders, San Anselmo, California
Sadly, the Biden administration’s policies take a much harsher view of hybrid cars than the recent Greener Cars report, which named Toyota’s Prius Prime SE the greenest car on the road today.
Both the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed passenger vehicle standards and California’s proposed ban on new gasoline, diesel, flex-fuel, and traditional hybrid vehicles ignore the impact on a vehicle’s life cycle. It focuses only on tailpipe emissions, not materials, manufacturing, or vehicle emissions. Fuel supply and charging, recycling and disposal. There is no such thing as a zero-emission or zero-impact car.
“Huge electric trucks weighing thousands of pounds may outperform gas-powered vehicles of the same size, but both will lose out to smaller, more efficient gas-powered vehicles,” the paper said.
The Biden administration’s policy to phase out new gasoline-powered vehicles lacks that honest approach and evaluation. Under the EPA proposal, an entire fleet could be comprised of a Cybertruck and an electric Hummer and would be rated to have zero emissions impact. A fleet consisting of the Prius Prime, traditional Prius, and light duty gasoline cars will have a hard time getting their share of the EPA.
Chet Thompson, Washington
The author is president and chief executive officer of a U.S. fuel and petrochemical manufacturer.
Having read the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s report and methodology online, I think the article should have questioned some of the underlying assumptions that influenced the final rankings. Many electric car owners charge their cars with electricity generated from solar power. Instead of acknowledging that, the group simply used the average carbon footprint of electricity provided by the grid to calculate the environmental impact of electric cars.
Warren Reese, bristol maine