Going green - what it all means.

In a recent poll of just under 1600 readers, MotorTorque asked the following question:

The answers were quite surprising and although Diesel came out on top by a ten percent lead, the results were not as cut and dried as we had expected.

Diesel : 479 / 31%
Hybrid : 335 / 21%
Biofuel : 275 /17%
Petrol: 242 /15%
Electric : 208 /13%
Don’t care: 31 / 3%

As you can see, diesel was the top choice, followed in second place by modern hybrids, with an impressive 21%. With only 10% between 1st and 2nd place, it questions research carried out recently by Honda in which they discovered that more than half of British motorists were not even aware of hybrid cars.

According to Honda, of the people surveyed who were aware of hybrid cars, 40% of them didn´t know that it was a car that uses both petrol and electric power.

When asked to name a type of alternative fuel vehicle, a huge 82% failed to mention the hybrid-electric car and instead quoted LPG which is far more complex for a day to day motorist, or even fully electric cars.

Our American neighbours seem to be embracing the hybrid idea, with a 90% jump seen in sales of hybrid cars in the last 5 years, but it seems that the great British public are proceeding with more caution. At Motortorque, we think that´s probably because the huge amount of information on ‘greener’ cars out there, can sometimes be more confusing than it is helpful. So people have heard of hybrid cars and are aware of them, but they don´t necessarily understand the options available to them.

So to help clear up the confusion, we’ve put together a feature on ‘greener’ cars.

Hybrid: in this context means hybrid propulsion.
A hybrid vehicle uses multiple propulsion systems to provide motive power.

Contrary to popular belief, automotive hybrid technology is not a new invention. It actually has a long history, going back as far as 1917 with the introduction of the 1917 Woods Dual Power which married a gasoline engine with an electric motor-generator - much the same as modern hybrids. However the idea flopped and production was halted after two years.

The hybrid concept had a resurgence in popularity in the 1990´s, along with the growing concern for environmental issues. Demands are high to find alternative sources of fuel in these times of rising fuel prices, due to instability in the oil producing regions, and the massive increase in demand for fuel over the last few years.

The term hybrid is most commonly used to refer to gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles which use gas (petrol) or diesel to power internal combustion engines (ICE´s) and electric batteries to power electric motors.

Modern mass-produced hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid recharge their batteries via a regenerative energy from braking and deceleration, capturing kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost to heat when braking.

They can run at idle, so the running noise is quiet – so quiet that as we reported a few months ago, there are some groups that worry about the dangers of the growing hybrid market for those who are blind or partially sighted. (click to see original article here)There are also less emissions when stuck in traffic which is bound to be a benefit for their environment when you consider the state of our roads these days.

When cruising, full hybrids can use their combustion engine to generate eletricity by spinning a generator to either recharge the battery or directly feed power to an electric motor that drives the vehicle.

All this adds up to the fact is that a good hybrid car now feels and performs just like any decent car. There really is no need to sacrifice performance to be kinder to the environment.

It seems that people are slowly coming around to the idea. The Toyota Prius has been popular since its introduction, and is gaining fans all the time including celebrities such as early pioneer of the hybrid Nicole Kidman, Leonardo di Caprio, Billy Crystal, Harrison Ford and Susan Sarandon, Thandie Newton, and the Lord Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Tory Leader David Cameron has joined the pack recently taking delivery of a new Toyota Lexus RX400.

However recent tests conducted by Which? magazine led to questions being asked about the economy claims made by hybrid makers. Which? revealed that in their recent tests, the Honda Civic hybrid managed only 28mpg-34mpg, which is far below the most fuel efficient petrol and diesel cars, and more importantly, way below the 54mph claimed by Honda. The results were similar for the Toyota Lexus RX400 which recorded 25-34mpg but used twice as much fuel as the most fuel efficient diesel car. Finally, the Toyota Prius only managed 45-50mpg compared with the 66mpg advertised although it did produce 44% less Co2 emissions than it’s standard equivalent.

So when it comes down to it, do people really care about the environment? According to Honda, British drivers are more likely to be motivated by money rather than by environmental responsibility. When the 73% who said they were unlikely to buy a hybrid were asked what would make them consider one, the top factor (43%) was "if I was sure running costs would be lower" followed by "if petrol became too expensive" (34%). This substantiates the number one reason for rejecting a hybrid: "too expensive" (34%).

Similarly, of the 18% who would consider a hybrid car, the top motivating factor was lower fuel costs (54%) rather than environmental benefits (39%). So it seems that the message is not quite getting through yet.

There are breakthroughs though. A new minicab service named greentomatocars which has launched in London, uses only the most viable environmentally friendly cars available. This, they proudly explain, does not compromise the quality of their service, or increase the cost at all. Currently the service is only available in West London, but by the end of the summer they will be running throughout London, and after that, who knows? Juding by their inital success, the sky may well be the limit.

Tom Pakenham from greentomato cars told MotorTorque "greentomatocars has got off to a flying start, experiencing higher levels of demand than anticipated, both from companies and private individuals. As a result the fleet is now growing at a rate of 10 cars per month and expects to be covering the whole of London by the summer. Our customers are responding positively not just to the environmental offering, but also to the high levels of customer service - proof that green motoring solutions can work if presented to the public in the right way."

Enticing incentives from the government, who are in favour of the environmentally friendly hybrids, include differing levels of discounts from the London Congestion Charge for eligible vehicles (the Prius and Civic get 100%) and business users and fleet purchasers are now eligible for several tax breaks. The VED changes in the most recent budget also mean that the road tax costs just £40 for these cars. However they are 10/20% more expensive to buy, which does put people off.

In America, where hybrid sales have shot up by 90% in the last five years, they have HOV (Hybrid Only Vehicles) lanes on the freeway and free parking for those using certain vehicles. It could be down to the celebrity factor though, with big Hollywood stars taking ownership of hybrids and raising the profile of the cars over the last few years.

What are the alternatives to hybrids?

Electric cars

Another surprise to some may be to find that Robert Anderson, a Scotsman, built the first electric car in 1836. There was even an entire cab company set up in the 1890’s – The London Electric Cab Company that used electric cars to ferry passengers about in electric cars that could do 50 miles at a time.

The turn of the millennium saw plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), that can be recharged from the electric grid and can go without any conventional fuel at all. However long trips are problematic and the frequent stop/starting has been seen as a major disadvantage. Also, the environmental benefits depend on the source of the electrical power available – for example, wind power is a lot cleaner than coal.

Electric cars create less pollution than petrol powered cars. However, electric cars are not widely available to the public, so in most cases an electric car will be one that has been converted by removing the engine, radiator, fuel tank and exhaust system and replacing them with an electric motor, batteries and equipment. This can cost upwards of 5,000 though, and is a real turn-off factor.

Although they are perfect for shorter journeys, they are exceptionally quiet, have virtually no emissions and can be as cheap as 1p a mile to run. They only go to around 50mph so you can tease them by driving past them at 55mph, but the real drawback is that the batteries usually don’t go that far and they don’t charge instantly. 50 miles is an average distance travelled on a charged battery, but you can get 80-100 miles from some models. It can take 6-8 hours to charge a battery from empty.

Again, there are incentives to using this type of transport. Councils are beginning to offer free parking for those driving electric cars– Westminister City Council does this already and more are sure to follow.

Alternative Fuels

There’s also been a lot of fuss about alternative fuels. We all know that oil prices are rocketing, and there is a lot of talk about what will happen when it runs out altogether. Here are a few of the most ‘talked about’ alternatives.

Biofuels:

A renewable energy unlike petrol, coal or nuclear fuel. Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass - recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts - eg manure.

Biodiesel:

Several different kinds of fuel are biodiesel. Diesel equivalent biofuel or vegidiesel/vegifuel usually made from vegetable oil or animal fats. Biodiesel is formed by removing the glycerine from the raw product - known as ´esterification´. Biodiesel will work in most modern diesel engines - either on its own or blended with ordinary diesel. While straight vegetable oil can be used to run diesel engines, Biodiesel does not need fuel pre-heating and filtration due to problems with coagulation ´waxing´ and requires minimal or no modifications to the fuel sustem.

Biodiesels are biodegradable and no-toxic and have fewer emissions than petrol based diesel when burned. Biodiesel will function in current engines and is a possible candidate to replace fossil fuels. It isn’t economically viable to make biodiesel from new vegetable oil, though this may change as demand grows.

If you can find some way of making your won biodiesel, you will still need to pay tax duty on your fuel, which can outstrip the savings made by using it.

Vegetable Oil:

Sometimes unrefined vegetable oil or straight vegetable oil is incorrectly called biodiesel.

Vegetable based fuels can include oilseed crops like rape and recyclable waste oils – fish, vegetable and animal oils. Usually the engine will need to be modified because of the pre-heating process mentioned above, and again, if used as a fuel, then duty will apply.

Bioethanol

Ethanol derived from crops is a potentially sustainable energy resource that may offer environmental and long-term economic advantages over fossil fuel. It is readily obtained from the sugar or starch in crops such as maize and sugarcane.

Once mixed with 15% petrol, this can be used as a petrol substitute.

Ford and Saab now sell models in the UK that can run on Bioethanol. It costs a little more to buy than regular cars, but is held back because there are so few garages across the UK selling the E85 fuel needed to run them on.