Cattiva reputazione

ESCE IL NUOVO modello di Toyota Prius, che la sezione business del Washington Post un po' entusiasticamente definisce "un'icona ecologica". Eccessivo ma soprattutto, impreciso. Tanto che arriva una risentita e documentata lettera al direttore (le peggiori) che puntualizza: altro che verde, la Prius è un'auto che inquina parecchio. Tutta colpa delle batterie al nickel metal-idrato: una Prius costa 2,87 dollari a miglio per tutta la durata della sua vita, un H3 Hummer 2,07. E a fine vita bisogna pure smaltire le batterie...

Money Quote: The June 9 Business article "Toyota Wants New Prius to Be America's Next Top Model" called the Prius an "eco-icon" and said that it has allowed Americans to "advertise their eco-correctness." A Toyota spokesman was quoted as saying that many Prius buyers want to "make an environmental statement."

The Prius's reputation as a "green" car is completely undeserved. The culprit is its nickel metal hydride battery.

The nickel is mined in Sudbury, Ontario, and smelted nearby, doing damage to the local environment. The smelted nickel is shipped to Wales, where it is refined. Then it is sent to China to be made into nickel foam. Then it goes to Japan, where it is made into a battery. Then it goes into cars, some of which are shipped to the United States and some of which go to Europe. All of that seaborne transport consumes a lot of fossil fuel.

CNW Marketing rates cars on the combined energy needed "to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a vehicle from initial concept to scrappage." A Prius costs $2.87 per lifetime mile. By comparison, an H3 Hummer costs $2.07 per lifetime mile. Then there will be the problem of disposing of the used batteries.

This is not a "green" car; it is a "brown" one.

JAMES CLIVIE GOODWIN

Fairfax