PRODUCT, PRICE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Hybrid Vehicles Jason D’Mello

Introduction My Coursework Description Write a short presentation about how environmental factors affect the price of a product: 1.Select and research a product which uses electronic components. 2. Analyze how the price of the product is affected by environmental factors such as legislation, ethics or market competition. 3.Write a presentation to illustrate the summary and highlights of the analysis. 4.Deliver a presentation that takes approximately 5 minutes. After careful though and some research, I finally decided on an ideal product which I felt would meet the criteria for this piece of coursework. My task was to write a short presentation about how environmental factors affect the price of a product. Before coming to a decision as to what product I was going to analyze, the two factors; price and the environment were lingering around in my head and all I could think of was, 'What product can range vastly in prices, from hundreds to its thousands, and what product affects the environment the most at the same time?'

My chosen product to analyze It then came to me that the product I was going to analyze would be a car of some sort because they have electric components, have a huge range in price and all affect the environment in one way or another I have decided to use the Nissan Altima as my chosen car for research and analysis.

Sources of power  In order to get a Hybrid vehicle such as the Nissan Altima to move, it uses two different sources of power, petrol/diesel and battery power.  Other sources also include; compressed air, hydrogen, human power e.g. pedaling or rowing, wind, compressed or liquefied natural gas, solar, coal, wood or other solid combustibles. (Hybrid vehicle, 2008).

Emissions and the environment  Having a hybrid engine means that emissions produced by the vehicle are significantly reduced therefore making the car more environmentally friendly. This is because of the improvement in fuel economy as less petrol or diesel is being used to get around, therefore less harmful gasses are being emitted.

How hybrids work  Hybrids work by conserving the energy that the car releases when it is accelerating and braking and this is stored in the batteries. Friction also adds to this as well. (Ian Dickson & Henry Biggs, 2007).  When driving in more urban areas such as London where most of the time there is a lot of traffic and congestion, the stored battery power is used to give the car motion rather than petrol or diesel supplies therefore reducing CO 2 emissions. This also makes an increase in fuel economy as 20% less is used. (What Green Car? - How do hybrid cars work?, 2008).

Different costs  Of course, owning a hybrid vehicle such as the Nissan Altima means that you escape having to pay for congestion charges and the tax costs drop significantly because of the decrease in CO 2 emissions. However, these advantages mean that there are disadvantages found elsewhere, and these disadvantages lie in the cost of purchasing the Nissan. For a typical new car which cost's around £14,000, the additional costs could range between £1,000 and £2,000 depending on whether or not the hybrid design is strong. (What Green Car? - How much do hybrids cost to own?, 2008).

Comparing the cost of hybrids  The following cars have been compared to their non-hybrid engine lookalikes: 1. Ford Escape 2. Mercury Mariner 3. Chevy Malibu 4. Saturn Aura Green Line 5. Nissan Altima  2009 Ford Escape (Buying hybrid cars, 2008)

 Mercury Mariner  Chevy Malibu (Buying hybrid cars, 2008)

 Saturn Aura Green Line  Nissan Altima (Buying hybrid cars, 2008)

What I have learnt from the tables All five tables clearly show that there is a trend of increase in purchase prices when buying a hybrid compared to the standard vehicle. It also shows me that when you buy a hybrid vehicle, the annual costs of fuel goes down and this could be related to the fact that when driving on motorways or around the city, the vehicle is consuming a lot less fuel because it is part running on stored energy from the battery. Emissions produced by a vehicle is considered an environmental factor. Buying a Nissan Altima helps save the environment or reduce global warming by cutting out a lot of emissions. However buying a hybrid such as the Nissan Altima means that you have to spend more when initially buying the vehicle so I have therefore proved that it costs more to buy something environmentally friendly.

References Hybrid vehicle. (2008, November 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Ian Dickson & Henry Biggs. (2007, March 09). In 4x4s tested: Lexus hybrid v Mercedes diesel. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from documentid= Hybrid Cars - How do hybrid cars work? (2008, November 17). In What Green Car. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from Hybrid Cars - How much do hybrids cost to own? (2008, November 17). In What Green Car. Retrieved November 18, 2008, from Comparing the costs of hybrid cars. (2008). In Buying Hybrid Cars. Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Hybrid-Cars/