A: Hybrid cars are powered by a combination of petrol power and electric power, while electric cars run on electricity alone. Hybrid cars derive their electrical energy from an on-board battery pack, which is charged by the car’s petrol engine. When travelling at low speeds, a hybrid can operate on battery power alone, and if more power is required, the engine can kick in to help.
Electric cars, on the other hand, run completely on battery power, and must be charged by plugging the car into a electric plug point.
Q: What is the environmental advantage of using a hybrid or electric car?
A: The main advantage of a hybrid or electric car comes down to the amount of CO2 they produce. When hybrid cars operate on battery power alone, they emit no CO2, and even when the petrol engine kicks in, the emissions are considerably lower than those of a conventional car.
Electric cars emit no CO2, ever.
Q: Why aren’t there more electric cars on the roads?
A: While the idea of an electric car has been around for 100 years, making it commercially viable has only recently been made possible. The main problem is with infrastructure, meaning that there are not enough charging points around cities to accommodate large numbers of electric cars. However, many governments around the world are taking steps to change this.
Q: Why are hybrid and electric cars more expensive than their petrol-powered competitors?
A: Huge amounts of money have been spent on the research and development of hybrid and electric cars during the last decade, and this is reflected in the prices asked for them. However, as the technology becomes more widespread, and manufacturing costs drop, hybrid and electric cars will become more affordable. Either way, most hybrid / electric car manufacturers add a little bit of luxury to their cars, helping to justify the high price.
Q: Can electric cars travel just as far as petrol-powered cars before having to be recharged?
A: Unfortunately, most electric cars have a range of 100-250km before needing to be recharged. However, as more electric cars are being sold, more research is going into how to improve the cars battery lives, meaning that this number can only go up.
Q: Why should I spend more on a hybrid or electric car?
A: Aside from helping to reverse the harmful effects of CO2 on the planet, there are plenty of reasons to invest in a green car. With hybrid cars, fuel costs are substantially lower than with petrol-powered cars, while with electric cars, there are no petrol bills at all & the only cost comes from charging the car like a laptop or mobile phone, making for an extremely cheap way of getting around.
Q: Is it true that all green cars offer little excitement from a driver’s point of view?
A: Not all green cars are slow and uninteresting. An American company called Tesla made headlines last year after it released the first all-electric supercar, the Tesla Roadster. This car is based on a Lotus, is particularly good looking, and will give conventional supercars a run for their money on any race track.
Q: What green alternatives are there to electric and hybrid cars?
A: Honda recently released a car called the FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and emits nothing but water. While a good idea in principle, the process of turning hydrogen into a liquid fuel is particularly difficult, meaning that there are only a handful of hydrogen filling stations in the world. However, this has not stopped other car manufacturers, such as BMW, from showing a large interest in hydrogen-powered technology.
Q: Are electric and hybrid cars here to stay, or are they just a passing fad?
A: Given the amount of research that has gone into these types of cars, it is unlikely that they will be going anywhere soon. Industry experts predict that, by 2020, 10-20 per cent of all cars sold in the US and Europe will be either hybrid or electric. And while that number is smaller in the Middle East, governments are looking into ways to increase the number of green cars on the road.
Q: If I’m interested in driving a hybrid or electric car, how can I compare the models on offer?
A: The internet is awash with web sites that compare various green cars. One of the best web sites is www.greenercars.org
