Embodied Energy in a Car

[VTJC]

Does anybody have any good sources for calculating the embodied energy in a car? I am looking for the energy costs for manufacturing, assembly adn the raw materials. I am having and old car vs. new car discussion with a friend that drives a Prius(recently getting out of V8 Discovery and V8 Toureg I might add), he considering a Smart car. Thanks in advance.
Jamie

 

[GoFaster]

It is almost impossible to accurately find this out.

But, as a rough guideline, remember that everything that goes into the manufacture of a vehicle, including the energy, must be paid for - eventually by the person purchasing the vehicle in question. The amount of energy that it takes to manufacture a vehicle can't be way out of proportion the way some people have claimed (example: Prius versus Hummer thing that has since been de-bunked) because where is the money (i.e. price tag) that it supposedly took to buy all that supposedly extra energy?

It's not far from the truth to say that a kg of plastic required something more than a kg of fossil fuel to make (not by a large factor - plastic is basically hydrocarbons, oil is hydrocarbons). It's probably not far from the truth to say the same about aluminum and steel and glass. Recycling will require a bit less; "new" material will require a bit more.

 

[VTJC]

The more I think about it buying a new car isn’t all that bad, as long as it gets sold and used for the rest of its functional life(15ish years). Unless I am missing something, since the Embodied Energy would be distributed throughout its life.

 

[GoFaster]

The energy that a motor vehicle will consume (via the fuel tank and the vehicle's engine) will far, far overwhelm (by orders of magnitude) the amount of energy it took to make the vehicle, if that's what you're asking.

 

[Beetler]

It becomes a philosophical question.

For the past 35 years much of economic philosophy has gone the way of the neo liberal persuasion and away from more relatively traditional humanistic values.

So we become less willing to measure living costs and focusing only on the blind spots that the love of money creates.

This carries through and programs much of societies belief systems as a singular whole.
Economists have not always been this way though. even today a few are relatively realistic.

The question becomes how much reality are you willing to be aware of, and how much reality are you willing to sell out of the picture that you seek to paint in deciding what the costs are.