Are Hybrid Cars Really Better than Gasoline Powered Cars?
By: McKenzie Johnston
Everywhere you look there is a sign, movie, magazine cover, newspaper article or a commercial that is pushing the “GO GREEN” speech and products. Because of the media people automatically gravitate towards it thinking that if they buy this one thing that the whole planet is just going to be fixed. What if those products don’t really do anything at all? What if they were pretty close to pointless? Would you still go buy that “green” product? Say the Hybrid car for instance, what if you knew that it really did nothing more than an average gasoline powered car? Lets compare the Hybrid to an average car with good mileage.
First, lets start out with the beginning of the hybrid car: the building process. When the hybrid car is being built it does not get any special treatment because of its so-called “eco-friendly” status. The Hybrid is built like every other car. That means that this process still pollutes the air just like any other car. Then, take the actual building materials, those are not good for the environment either. The Hybrid is built using all natural/raw products which sounds good at first, but leads to taking more than what is needed from the earth. If the Car Companies were to make a bunch of hybrid cars, they would actually deplete our natural resources, which is what I thought that we were trying to stay away from. The manufacturers use nickel when building the battery that is supposed to “help” the earth. Which will lead to more than needed nickel mining. After the battery is done being used it is still polluting the earth. This is because it is hard to dispose of and leads to concerns of toxicity.
Hybrid cars use a motor, engine and a battery to be able to run. When the “eco-friendly” car is running at a higher speed it is using the combination of the motor and the engine. Therefore the engine is still needed along with the gas which comes along with the pollution that we al are trying to stay away from. Then when at lower speeds the car runs solely on a battery. The car can run on the battery because it builds up energy from when the motor and engine are running. But say you live in a town where your speed limits don’t get below 30, then that battery will never run, so what is the point? There is not really one. This battery is supposed to be what saves the hybrid name because everyone thinks because of the battery it makes everything better. But it does not do anything better than a car with good mileage.
You hear of tons of people saying that they are doing their best to help save the environment because they just bought a hybrid car but actually very few people actually own these cars. That fact is mainly because the prices are higher. We found that actually only one in 15 cars is a hybrid. The prices are higher because it is a harder car to build and requires more parts than a regular car. The price is probably a couple thousand more than an average priced car.
Never believe what the media has to say. The media are just wanting to get your money or your vote or your attention. The media do not always research their subjects. So, always research before buying because the results may surprise you.
