As I was reading my normal flurry of electronic news stories I hit the CNN site to see what they were saying about GM new Volt and the Toyota Prius—basically which in their view was better (http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/14/autos/volt_vs_prius/index.htm).  You can read the play-by-play yourself but their basic conclusion was the Prius was a better deal based on the economics.  I guess that is the end of the story?

Shifting gears (sorry), I think about a discussion that I had with my then 85 year-old father about his decision to put solar panels on my folk’s home even though it did not make economic sense in terms of the likelihood that he or my mother would see a payback within their lifetimes.  His answer to me was: We did it because it was the right thing to do.

Placing these two semi-related paragraphs together drives home the point to me how weak a single factor analysis tool like monetarily focused economics is in predicting human behavior.   Heck if all we thought about was money, we would likely eat potatoes for every meal.  Although we consume tons of fries, tatter tots, and baked spuds we also eat a rich spectrum of other foods that are not so economically justifiable.

In the Prius versus Volt debate, and I am not advocating for one over the other, we need to look at the total package.  And that means something called a life cycle assessment where all aspects of the two vehicles are examined from the environmental impacts of manufacturing and recyclability of the materials used to the economic and social implications of choosing one car over the other.  But while this total package gives us a clearer picture about which decisions we might want to pursue, it is still not all of it.

The Prius, and now the Volt, are much more than cars.  They are iconic arguments for a better world and a more sustainable planet.  Paying the several thousand dollar premiums for these vehicles is the functional equivalent of marching down the street with placard in hand and chanting: We want the auto industry to do better and make cars that are cleaner running and less impactful.  But there is likely more. 

Purchasers of electric, hybrid, and gas sipping cars such as the Smart Car are hoping to start a market revolution.  They hope that through their example others will follow and prices for these cars will track the trajectories seen in the computer, flat screen TV, and DVD worlds.  And I hope they are right.

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