How green is my smart?

[Carl242]

[quote=SnakeFarm;44190]The worst part about all the Gorbal Warming nonsense is that it stands in the way of ACTUAL environmental concerns. The smart is MUCH more environmentally sound than ANY car with a chemical battery array no matter how much CO2 it spews.[quote]

Interesting enough according to a recent WIRED article, more C02 emmisions come out of making a PRIUS than just about any car, including even a hummer, because of the battery manufacturing process. If you bought a Prius, you would have to apparently drive it 100,000 miles to offset the CO2 emmisions compared to driving a 98 Geo Metro. Oops, what happens then? You have to get a new battery, and there you are continuing to pollute!

I'm not sure the specs on the smart, but with the materials, greenness of the factory, and mere size of the car, I would assume that the CO2 emmissions from manufacturing one are not that high.

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by angel

Seems a lot of the scoring has to do with MPG. No mention of being able to recycle or the impact of disposing of battery packs in hybrids. Seems most of the information for that article came from greenercars.org | vehicle ratings highlights.

Thus the overall numbers for greenness could be vastly inaccurate based on environmental impact of disposing of vehicles and components later. Surely someone can do testing based on more than just estimated MPG and emissions testings.

I mentioned this fact to a friend that just purchased a Prius, she didn't like that I pointed it out and hasn't talked to me since...

hybrids = not so green after all...

[slk23]

It's amazing how far that BS "report" has gone....

Do a Google search for "prius vs hummer myth" and see what you find.

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by slk23

It's amazing how far that BS "report" has gone....

Do a Google search for "prius vs hummer myth" and see what you find.

Here is the link to the story (above). Very interesting... I'd call that politics with cars, what next...

[curtis]

it was already proven that the Hummer leaves a smaller carbon footprint than the Prius.
Green = $Green$
the only Green I like is the Green Bay Packers!!!

[MinnySmart]

Originally Posted by iwantmysmart

in my opinion smart should be above the prius... found this really interesting article

The Recorder

I have one problem with this article. The supposition that the Prius will only last 100,000 and the Hummer will last 300,000 miles. I doubt either are correct. It's been a LONG time since I've heard of a GM product lasting 300,000 miles. I've honestly heard at least 2 occasions of Prius' getting to 300,000 miles already. So, let's say they each get 200,000 miles. At that rate, the price for the Prius drops to $1.625 per mile, and the Hummer changes to $2.925...

I think they picked numbers to make the Prius look bad.

Still, you have to consider the environmental impact of the nickel mining, I agree... and the smart manufacturing process/plant seems as green as it gets. I'm happy with my smart.

[rollingtones]

Go to:

www.fueleconomy.gov

The smart has the smallest carbon footprint of any car sold in the USA.

[bradgarbus]

Originally Posted by rollingtones

Go to:

www.fueleconomy.gov

The smart has the smallest carbon footprint of any car sold in the USA.

Here is the direct link:

SMART CAR RATING

[bradgarbus]

I like the idea that the smart car is the greenest car out there. They plaster it all over the website: smart fortwo ecology

You might not buy the car for being green but it sure is a huge benefit, weather you like to admit it or not.

[slk23]

Originally Posted by rollingtones

Go to:

The smart has the smallest carbon footprint of any car sold in the USA.

Really? What about the Prius at 4.0 and the Honda Civic Hybrid at 4.4 compared to the ForTwo's 5.1 annual tons of CO2 emitted? I'm a huge Smart fan but let's keep the information accurate.