Hybrid cars- stupid trend or real alternative? Part 2

Hybrid cars- stupid trend or real alternative? Part 2


Last time I wrote about reducing fuel consumption with Hybrid elcetric vehicles as a part of economic reasons for buying a Hybrid. This post will elaborate another aspect of those reasons: vehicle emissions

This seems to be closely related to the last post, as more consumed fuel results in more emissions.
But CO2 is not only produced by the engines of our cars, but also by their construction and the transport of resources. Well, one might argue that all cars need to be assembled and the materials for all vehicles have to be delivered to a factory from some distant country.

 

While this is true for all conventional cars, the different parts needed for a Hybrid travel longer and much farther. Especially the production of battery cells for Japanese HEVs, not built in the EU,
takes such a huge toll on our environment that some studies proved it to be more "green" to buy a conventional, locally produced/assembled car instead of a Hybrid that had to voyage across the seven seas.
If you really want to own a hybrid an alternative would be to buy one that was completely manufactured in your own or a neighbouring country, which of course limits the range of cars to chose from.