A Necessary Evil

A recent sustainability report from the Toyota Motor Company has shown that the Toyota Prius has what Autoblog.com and Automotive News call a "dirty side".  This coming from the fact that although the plucky vehicle has become synonymous with the Green Movement, the manufacturing process of the electric motor and battery is not exactly what you call clean.  Autoblog states "[these] two pieces require larger amounts of energy and materials" which more than overshadow the small amount of carbon dioxide the Prius emits.  Don't even get me started at what the heck are we going to do with all these dead Prius batteries in a couple years and the threat it posts to our water supply.

But wait, don't hate!  I actually like that the Prius motor shuts off when idle and can actually say that the Prius is a fairly futuristic looking compact sedan.  What I don't like are Toyotas misleading ad campaigns and the die-hard-Prius-Fan Boy/Girls that it produces.  Sadly, many of these people are also very attractive celebrities: 

This is nothing new to me, and I've been preaching this information since my senior project back in high school (in 2005 mind you), which was all about alternate power sources for vehicles (and an excuse to make an RC car).  One of the lines to my research paper states: "We must be cautious and trace it back to our electric sockets;  that electric vehicle (or battery) has been charged from the burning of fossil fuels or even worse, coal, at some far off plant."  Carbon dioxide out of sight, out of mind huh?  And yes I understand there is water, wind, thermo, and solar power;  but come talk to me when our country actually starts depending on them. 

Although it seems like its taken 5 years for Toyota to fess up and at least one of the major sites I follow to take note of this, I have to say that the Prius has done some good to the world.  Although it is a devil in disguise, I can recall the absurd trend in MPGs of vehicles before that Prius came about, with huge SUVs getting 6-9 miles per gallon.  Because of Toyotas money making scheme through the Prius, it has placed the importance of the environment consumers minds where it was not before.  At least now motor companies are designing trucks that at averaging 20+ MPGs.  And at least now we're seeing car companies taking it a step further for our environment and cleaning up their manufacturing process and using cleaner materials for parts (ex: recycled bottles for seats).

On that note, the Prius is a necessary evil for the good of this planet.  It has made being Green cooler than Al Gore ever could.  But like all great faces of a movement, its also a complete hypocrite.  

 Okay I know not everyone can afford a $90,000+ Mercedes Benz S-class diesel (I can't!), but to put things in perspective, this behemoth of a car is produced cleaner and emits less co2 than the Prius.

EDIT:  I'd like to add that I proposed to my high school physics/chem professor the possibility and cleanliness of nuclear powered vehicles (kinda like those self sufficient nuclear submarines).  She replied, "that would be great, but there are A LOT of bad drivers out there.  Think about that."  
EDIT 2: Its 2010, where are our flying cars?