"Are you also suggesting that Clarkson is off the mark in his point about the significantly more (earth-destroying) resources required to mine the nickel for the batteries and transporting and processing them all around the world. I wonder how many more resources it costs to actually produce a Prius than a "less environmentally-friendly car"
If thats all it is going to be, just another hybrid with a bigger (for some reason) engine then I would say its a solid step backwards for Toyota and that really shows how they care about the environment - filming green adds to keep up the appearances. I suspect that maybe they will get a few % better mileage, likely because of smarter fuel injection/ valve timing. Thats not moving forward, that pathetic.
What they should have done had they cared one bit is add a bigger, preferably Li-ion battery (which would also be lighter per kWh), bigger motor, just sufficient for brisk city maneuvering and, you guessed, a friggin' electric cord, so that you would be able to get around for shopping, soccer and school pick ups and drop offs without a drop of gas, for the first 20 miles at least, which is doable for Toyota with their enormous R&D budget.
As for the above comment, like I said a few times before, most of things human-made are dangerous for the environment. Prius batts are maybe 10% of the cars weight and are hardly much more dangerous to make than the rest of it. Following this logic we shouldn't be building wind turbines, PV cells or reflectors or even bicycles for that matter. There's been countless studies, but the way I see it one or so pound of nickel (or lithium) for the lifespan (10 years) of the car will likely outweigh hundreds of barrels if not more of oil saved (and close to that equivalent of energy wasted to refine/deliver it to the tank) with improved fuel efficiency.
