Utah’s fleet could get a lot cleaner in the coming year, as the state spends $4.5 million to more than double the number of natural gas cars and gas-electric hybrids in the fleet.
Listen, if the state of Utah wants to go CNG, I applaud that. We have a wealth of natural gas in this state and this is a solid, educated move.
The plan mentioned in the Trib has Utah ending up with about 200 CNG cars in its fleet and about 535 hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are trendy and proven to be the most environmentally damaging, from build to end-of-life, out there.
Please, Utah, don’t move to hybrids using the justification of “going green.”
Are you going to provide a link for “Hybrid cars are trendy and proven to be the most environmentally damaging, from build to end-of-life, out there.”?
Or should we just take your word for it?
marshall: The problem with most hybrids has to do with the nickel used in the batteries. It’s pretty nasty stuff and poses a lot of health risks. Unfortunately, battery technology pretty much sucks and hasn’t made a lot of progress in decades. I believe part of the stimulus funds are slated to go into battery technology.
i agree the battery needs to be improved, but i don’t know that the claim of hybrids being to most environmentally damaging cars can be made solely from that. especially if you want to look at it from a production to end of life, seeing as battery production is a one time impact to the environment, which is then offset by reduced carbon production throughout the life of the car. but ya, the batteries need improvement, ideally to the point where the combustion engine is no longer needed.