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Toyota Prius More Environmentally Damaging Than BMW M3 (according to Top Gear)
Image source: topgear.com
I came across this video of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson claims that and explains why the supposedly eco-friendly hybrid Toyota Prius car is more environmentally damaging than a high performance car like the BMW M3 or a fuel monster SUV.
Although the Top Gear crew is known for being over-the-top critical sometimes, I have to admit that I, like everyone else I guess, tent to forget that CO2 emissions of cars (and of all other products for that matter) should be calculated starting at the creation of the product and not – as is too often the case – at the final stage: the emissions of a finished, in-use product. When you take the building process of the Prius – and all it’s parts, especially the electric engine and batteries – into account and compare it with traditional fuel-based cars, I bet the Top Gear guys are right. Maybe driving 10 years with a hybrid Prius does not come close to making up for the CO2 emissions produced when creating, assembling and transporting the car.
Whatever it may be, here’s the video:
By Priscilla Lorenzo
Tags: BMW M3, electric car, hybrid, Jeremy Clarkson, Prius, Top Gear, Toyota
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Actually, all three of the Top Gear hosts are for the environment. They’re just against over the top environmentalism. They want the eco-friendliness of a car to be subtle rather than advertised. Or something like that…
I see the Prius as a transition car on the way to getting off fossil fuels. Similarly, mass recycling projects generally weren’t efficient when first implemented, but now are much more effective.
The Top Gear guys like fast, powerful cars and don’t like lefty eco warriors spoiling their fun. Clarkson is a affable guy, but he doesn’t care about the environment and maintains that humans can’t possibly affect the climate anyway.
Apparently the fuel efficiency of the Prius has gone up since this video was made.