Hummer Greener Than Prius?

An anonymous reader sends in a story from Central Connecticut State University, claiming that a Prius takes more energy to manufacture than a Hummer — 50% more. In addition, the article claims that the Prius costs $3.25 per mile over its expected lifespan of 100,000 miles compared to $1.95 per mile for the Hummer. The article gets its data from a study by CNW Marketing called Dust to Dust, which is an attempt to account for all the costs of vehicles, from manufacture through operation through repair and disposal. The $3.25/mile cost quoted for the Prius is the 2005 number; for 2006 it is $2.87. This improvement pulled the Prius below the straight industry average — all the other hybrids are still above that average. And the Hummer is not listed at all for 2006. Update: 03/21 00:44 GMT by J : You might want to take those figures with a grain of salt; I don't think anyone's seen the supporting data. Read on for details.

J adds:

The Prius's mediocre cost-per-mile is due mainly to CNW Research assigning the car a short expected lifetime: 109,000 miles. Nobody knows where this number comes from because CNW has not published details about its derivation. If a car will not last very long, then of course its energy cost per mile is high.

Back in July 2006, when CNW's study "Dust to Dust" had just been published (and which remains, unchanged, the original source for today's news), I emailed its president, Art Spinella:

Hello,

I'm with the tech news and discussion site Slashdot.org. One of our readers submitted a story about your Dust to Dust study.

According to Wikipedia, the Prius comes with a 150,000 mile warranty in California and a few other states; 100,000 elsewhere.

On p. 21 and p. 40 of your report I see that you estimate the average Prius will be "removed from the streets... and sent for disposal" at 109,000 miles. Can you explain how you arrived at this figure?

Thank you.

I did not receive a reply.

My question was about the cost-per-mile denominator; here's another critique questioning the numerator.

Comments

Re:Greener and manlier

[An ominous Cow art]

Fuck you, asshole.

I make it a point to make the appropriate inappropriate gesture to every jackass like yourself I see on the road.

Who cares about cost anyway?

[wsanders]

It's free for me to dump my dead CRT monitor in San Francisco Bay, costs me $10 to disspose of it properly. Which is better for the enviroment.

More right-wing anti-hybrid FUD shit for brains AM-radio-whore bull crap.

Re:Well amount of Energy != Green

[sharkman67]

>Now excuse me while I go smash my bike lock into some Hummer's tail-light. Do it to my Hummer and I'll squish your 'green' head.

Re:Your "God" is a prick, so suck it, fundamentali

[grub]

Heheh, great post! I see the Christian Taliban have plenty of mod points today.

Smear your shit on the beard of Jesus

Re:Your "God" is a prick, so suck it, fundamentali

[grub]

Some people have no sense of humour. Make fun of their late-Iron Age fairy tales and they get pissed off.
Good time to change my sig. How's this one look? :)

Re:Not true

[Profane MuthaFucka]

I can't tell, are you telling me to reject stereotypes? Why not read my journal and discover just HOW FAR I have taken walking in someone else's moccasins If you notice, I wrote *some* greenies. That is obvious to anybody who can read, and it seems that you're having trouble, that I am well aware that every person is different. Completely different, all individuals, except that one guy over there.

And I'm a greenie myself. I don't wear clothes, don't own a car, and I use hemp kleenex to wipe ejaculate off my keyboard. Beat THAT one...

Or, is this a hit and run where you throw out some vaguely insulting comments and just disappear into the ether? Huh MOOFIE?