By Jackson West, 4:20 PM on Fri Mar 21 2008, 2,135 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

Copy this whole post to another site

Slurp cancel

select site advertising consumerist deadspin defamer fleshbot gay fleshbot gawker gizmodo idolator io9 jalopnik jezebel kotaku lifehacker valleywag artists gawkershop

With a laptop tracking power and gas consumption and CO₂ emissions, Google.org's four plug-in Priuses serve as a test fleet for the charity's $10 million plug-in electric hybrid vehicle research program. And according to the stats, they're already outperforming the company's two regular Prius hybrids across the board. RechargIT.org is a fantastic PR stunt, but is it good science?

What the project doesn't do is compare the environmental cost per person-mile to that of Google's private commuter bus fleet. Nor does it compare the total carbon footprint over time of a newly-manufactured plug-in electric hybrid to, say, converting an existing automobile or improving public transportation. But then, shiny new cars are the classic California status symbol, and alternative-fuel vehicles are just the latest form of conspicuous consumption — the paint job just screams, "Look at me and how environmentally conscious I am!" (Photo Google.org)