There are plenty of revelations in the annual sustainability report recently released by Toyota. By and large, the company is as ecologically-minded as a multi-national corporation can be, but as we’ve touched on before, not everything is as squeaky clean as it could be. The Toyota Prius has earned itself as one of the greenest vehicles on the road – a perception that the company’s report confirmed by detailing the fact that over its lifetime, the Prius is likely to emit much less carbon dioxide than other comparable vehicles.
Unfortunately, that truth is offset a bit by the fact that the vehicle performs marginally worse than average when it comes to the emissions generated to build hybrid. Specifically, Toyota cranks out extra nonmethane hydrocarbons and particulate matter, thanks specifically to the manufacturing of the car’s electric motor and battery pack. Those two pieces require larger amounts of energy and materials, snagging the Prius lower than average ratings across all five manufacturing emissions categories.
[Source: Automotive News]
