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One thing that has always bothered me about the cost of hybrid cars is the extra motor, systems, batteries, and wiring associated with a hybrid vehicle. I have yet to find a definitive analysis of the environmental cost of a hybrid vehicle over its life. I do know from revelations in the PC industry, that the environmental cost of the production of a typical PC is quite surprising. The only references I could find on the web in regard to the overall environmental cost of a hybrid are from a person named J. Pickens. Here is a link to one of his comments. Search for "j. pickens hybrid", and you will find some discussion surrounding this. I suspect that the root issue is that we are faced with a truth, the truth that consumption, well, consumes: resources, trees, gas, electricity, air, topsoil, water, etc. Descretionary consumption isn't the kind of thing that anybody will attack, well, anybody with something to sell. I'm not prepared to take a car manufacturer's word for it that they are doing the green thing, just like I'm not prepared to accept that flex-fuel means much more than yet another loophole in environmental laws. The idea that buying a $25,000 car is the most responsible and environmentally friendly choice for personal transportation is suspicious. Now, I will admit that I've been wrong in the past, as I mentioned in this article; however, the basic idea still holds. I am merely cautioning that when considering a used high MPG car vs. a $25,000 hybrid, that you think carefully about why you are choosing the hybrid.
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