Overhaulin'

help wrighting persuasive speech about y u should buy hybrid cars?

i need ideas or help with an outline for why you should buy hybrid cars..thanks

Public Comments

1. This is so easy.
2. Hi, short answers (we'll use a Prius because there are more of them than any other and it's the hybrid everyone usually thinks of)... Great site for official details, graphs, images and how all the components work together: www.hybridsynergydrive.com A Prius costs .11 cents a mile to maintain for each 100,000 miles. That .11 cents includes tires, gas at $3.75 a gallon, oil changes and all regularly scheduled maintenance at a Toyota dealership, not a cheapy lube. A Prius actually has less parts and less moving parts than a standard vehicle, so there is less to repair or replace. No owner has ever paid to replace a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) hybrid battery due to defects or failure. There have been NiMH replaced due to accidents or owner abuse or modification (one guy drilled a screw into his NiMH stack trying to install a big sub-woofer in the back). Anything else you've seen or heard is a myth. Common sense says if these things were failing, it would be all over the news. The Prius have been in the US for nine, almost ten, years. full answer (and it's a lot, so stay with me)... The .11 cents per mile maintenance cost of a Prius does not include insurance, bank interest, or the cost of the vehicle and the options, because all of those can vary based on each owner's situation. Add them to the .11 cents per mile amount. A Prius will maintain 51-53 average if driven properly. This means doubling your usual stopping distance and taking your foot off the accelerator at that double distance to shut down the ICE sooner when coming to a stop and then pressing the brake at your normal stopping distance gently to the stop. Accelerate like there is a egg under the accelerator pedal and you're trying to roll the egg out, not make omelets. In other words, driving defensively and learning to get the most out of the hybrid drivetrain. As far as the cost to operate a Prius over 100,000 miles: - There is no steering belt or steering pump. There is no belt to wear and no pump to lose fluid out of (ever hear a car squeal when it goes around a corner? that's the belt or pump going bad) No cost there. - There is no accelerator cable or cable linkage, it is electronic. So there is no loss of acceleration over time from cable stretch and wear like on a standard vehicle. No cost there. - There is no timing belt, so there is no belt to replace at 60,000 miles or so. No cost there. - The brake pads should never need to be replaced, they are hardly used due to the regenerative braking system. Look up pictures on the net of Prius with no appreciable wear on the brake pads. One great example is an owner who thought to take pictures of his Prius' brake pads at 8,000 miles and then again at 105,000 miles. The pads were measured with calipers and there was no appreciable wear after 97,000 miles. No cost there. - You never touch the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery or the hybrid system, it is self-regulating. No cost there. - The ICE is not tuned up for 100,000 miles. At even 15,000 miles per year, that's about seven years. And then... - four spark plugs run $12.00 each, four is $48.00 (the wires aren't replaced and there are no distributors because each cylinder has a direct injection module and they are not replaced) - coolant is $15.50 a gallon and you need two gallons, or $31.00 (if you live in an extremely hot or cold climate, you might need to change the coolant 2X in 100,000 miles so figure $62.00 there) - air filters are $18.00 for the engine and $25.00 for the cabin and are replaced every 15,000 miles. So over 100,000 miles, we'll go high and say 7 sets of air filters at $301.00. - at 100,000 miles, inspect the wiring, change the oil (might as well, since you're there) lube, inspect and flush the brake lines, flush the coolant if necessary. It runs about $225.00, which includes parts. - the sealed, continuously variable transmission fluid is not changed until 90,000 miles, about $140.00 - The OEM (Original Equipment from the Manufacturer) Goodyear Integrity's are about $118.00 each, installed. The originals are low-rolling resistance, specialty tires, just like a truck or sports car. They will last about 35,000 or so. Three sets of 4 OEM tires- over 105,000 miles- will run $1376.00 installed (3 sets of 4 at $118.00 each = $1376.00). - Oil and filter changes every 3000 miles and tire rotations every 6000 miles, just like any other vehicle. Oil changes are about $26.00 and tire rotations are about $18.00, or about $884.00 for oil changes and $306.00 for rotations over 100,000 miles So, over 100,000 miles, for regular service, a Prius should run about $3342.00, rounded to $3400.00, or about .034 cents per mile. All of my service and parts amounts come from a local Toyota dealership (not the corner cheapy lube), and do not figure in any kind of promotions, coupons, or discounts. I called on 4/11/08. We'll say gas in a Prius at $3.75 a gallon will run about $7,500 over 100,000 miles, or about .075 cents per mile (100,000 miles / 50 mpg = 2000 gallons of gas X $3.75 a gallon = $7,500). I get 51.7 mpg currently as an average, city and highway, auto temp w/air and stereo on. So a Prius will run about $11000 ($3400 + $7500), or .11 cents per mile, to operate over 100,000 miles. I used 100,000 miles because it is a easy, round number, and most people don't keep their vehicles more than 6 or 7 years. Any vehicle you are considering should be put to this kind of scrutiny. A vehicle is a major investment and it will cost you money to run properly. Please print this info out and use it to compare any vehicles by calling your local dealership and asking the parts and service departments what is involved in maintenance over 100,000 miles. As far as the energy and materials for the NiMH batteries go: Our federal government has tested NiMH batteries from the Prius and discovered they still maintain 90% of their capacity after 100,000 miles. Look up the testing at the DOE website. BTW, the price for a new NiMH battery for either generation of the Prius is $2985.13, not the $5-10,000.00 that people like to throw around the internet. Call your local Toyota dealer and ask for the parts department. And the current record is over 360,000 miles on a Prius using the original NiMH battery and hybrid system. Many Prius are used as taxis and also by the State of New York and Colorado as state municipal vehicles racking up 100,000-200,000 miles without issue on a regular basis. Those are not typos, anything else you may have seen is an urban myth. Speaking for Toyota, there is an 800 number on each NiMH hybrid battery, and that number allows a person to turn in that battery for a $200.00 bounty. That's assuming a NiMH even gets out of the hands of an auto salvage company who will sell it to the top bidder. Who's going to throw something like that into a dump? The entire battery, just like almost every bit of those vehicles, is completely recyclable. The alkaline batteries that people use and throw out are a different type of battery than what is in vehicles like the Prius. The Hybrid Synergy Drive unit that Toyota developed is designed to keep the NiMH battery in a mid-peak charge range, trying not to top-charge it or, of course, completely discharge it. That enables a NiMH to last fairly indefinitely. Obviously, there will be some breakdown eventually, but one of the great things about the Prius system, for example, is the NiMH battery is composed of 36 individual cells. If one cell goes bad, it can be replaced and the remainder stay. That is what's happened when Toyota has torture tested the Prius in Alaska and Death Valley. As far as the supposed "environmental impact" of the NiMH batteries in the Toyota and Lexus hybrids... The plant in Sudbury where Toyota buys approximately 1.5% of the plant's annual nickel output can be seen using this Google maps address: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&la... Sudbury, Ontario is called the mining capital of the world for good reason. The Sudbury plant has been in continuous operation since the rock was blasted to make way for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883. That means that nickel has been mined there for the last 125 years. The Prius has been on the road since 1998. What about all the environmental damage done for the 115 years before the Prius ever came along? So, there are some of the techie details, but the bottom line is the cost will be higher for a Prius, but you are getting more vehicle. It's just like buying an Accord instead of a Civic or a Camry instead of a Corolla.