Are hybrids more environmentally unfriendly than gas engines in the long run considering battery disposal?
I am not very enthusiastic about hybrids. Their payback period is still rather large, even with three-dollar per gallon gasoline. Assume that most cars can get thirty mpg, and that a hybrid can get fifty, so lessee: drive 12,000 miles per year, and twenty miles per gallon is worth $1800.00, which is vastly less than the premium you’re paying for the hybrid over the cost of a non-hybrid. Battery disposal is one more concern; and the cost of the batteries is very high, which is why they’re covered by elaborate warranties–but not forever. Conventional automobiles have been recycled for close to a century, so the disposal techniques are well-established; hybrids have not.
