The new Prius...

The new version of Toyota's flagship Prius has gone on sale - 89gCO2/km, 67mpg, optional solar panels to drive fans to keep the car cool when parked on a warm day etc, etc.

It's noticeable that Toyota (flagship = Prius) overtook GM (flagship = Hummer) as the world's biggest seller of cars in 2008 and the latter is currently filing for bankrupcy. Tell them that 'green' is irrelevant in a recession...

50 cars = 1 bus

From the creative review blog.

How green are electric cars?

There's a huge amount of fuss in the press about a revolution in electric vehicles driven by the government. The 'greenness' of an electric car depends on where the electricity comes from - don't buy the 0gC02/km figures that are bandied about - that is patent nonsense. It is quite difficult to get precise data, but here's a rule of thumb from www.whatgreencar.com:

• Battery-electric cars using renewable energy provide the largest reduction in GHGs of almost 100%. 
  
• If 'standard-mix' electricity is used, battery electrics reduce greenhouse gases by around 40%. 
  
• Commercially produced pure bioethanol and biodiesel also provide significant reductions in greenhouse gases in the range 35%-90%, the reduction depending on feedstock crop used. 
  
• Due to their high fuel-efficiency, most petrol hybrids offer a reduction in greenhouse gases of around 25%. 
  
• Bi-fuel LPG and natural gas cars also produce modest reductions of around 15% due to better combustion and to their lower carbon content.

Tesla - the makers of the £90k electric sports car go further and say their car does 46gCO2/km, compared to an European average of 158gCO2/km, but that figure assumes the electricity comes from a brand new gas fired power station.

So electric is good, but not quite as good as some may claim!

Petrolheads go green...

Interesting TV (in the UK) last night if you are a green...

A cyclist beats an F1 driver to Sports Personality of The Year on BBC1 and then over on BBC2 James May on Top Gear calls the hydrogen powered Honda Clarity "the most important car to be developed in the last 100 years". Even Jezza Clarkson enjoyed the Tesla electric sports car until it started running out of juice - the practicality of recharging it was what made him dismiss it as 'doesn't work', not the frightening torque an electric engine will produce.

But looking back, Top Gear has been showing a green tinge for a while - the three petrolheads raced across Europe on a single tank of fuel a couple of weeks ago and the top two drivers in the 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' are Jay Kay and Kevin McCloud - two avowed greenies...

Times they are a changin'

High fuel prices are having an effect

It has long been a matter of debate about whether increased energy costs actually make us change our behaviour or just put up the cost of living. Obviously if you are on the breadline then fuel costs will influence whether you put the heating on or not - this is known as fuel poverty and is thought to be responsible for the premature deaths of thousads of old and frail people every year.

But there is increasing evidence that the soaring oil prices are affecting the rest of us, with the Times reporting that two thirds of respondents to a survey saying that they had cut car trips. 47% of them said this was due to the cost, 13% due to the environment and a mystery 30% reporting 'change in lifestyle'.

This last category intrigues me - are people just getting fed up with the daily grind of commuting and changing their home/job to suit? Or do some of the 33% who haven't cut their car use balance this out? We may never know.

The Times article also suggests that the proportion of people showing 'ethical' choices in their shopping has dropped from 63% to 56% since January because of economic worries. Take that one with a pinch of salt - the 'ethical' market is tiny compared with the mainstream.

A million petrolheads weep!

The Hummer is dead!

A million tree huggers cheer!

How's your car going to be taxed?

If you're wondering how your car tax will change after Darling's rather pale green budget, then the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) has a useful database of all models' emissions.

You then need to check this against the new tax bands which can be seen here courtesy of the Guardian.

A Word In Your Shell, Like

Interestingly we have the ex-Chairman of Shell, Mark Moody-Smith, calling for a ban on fuel guzzling cars this morning.

Depending on what mood I'm in, I either welcome this as a heavyweight intervention from someone in the know, or a blatant attempt to pass the buck from Big Oil to the motor industry. Whichever, I do think Sir M should probably have spent more time as Chairman stopping his company's flaring of gas in Nigeria - which produces more carbon emissions (unnecessarily) than all of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa's emissions put together. Now that would have made a difference...

Citroën wins "Green Car Manufacturer of The Year" 2007

Citroën isn't a name which would readily drop off my lips when it comes to the environment, but they've won the Green Fleet Awards "Car Manufacturer of The Year" for 2007. Looking at their stats (23 models exempt from the London congestion charge for low emissions) it looks as if they've stolen a march on their competitors. Let's see if anyone else takes on the challenge...

Lexus SUV Hybrid - "Green" or "Less Evil"?

I've been puzzling this week over the newspaper adverts for the new Lexus hybrid range. If you take the SUV, the hybrid does 35mpg and emits 192g/km* compared to the standard SUV performance of 25mpg and 264g/km. On carbon, that's a 27% saving - not bad, but the Toyota Prius does 104g/km...

There are two ways of looking at this:

1. there will always be a market for huge luxury vehicles, so it is better to be able to offer a substantially more efficient model to cut carbon emissions.

2. These guys are fooling themselves, if they really want to be green, they're going to have to compete with the best - luxury marque or not.

I'm tending towards 2. myself - it is very misleading to tell people that having a luxury vehicle with emissions no better than a family saloon is somehow "green". Manufacturers would probably say I'm not comparing like with like, to which I would reply "Exactly!"


* apologies for the mix of imperial and metric units -us Brits have never worked this metrification through!

Arnie loses car fight

Hidden away in today's media is the disappointing (but hardly surprising) news that the state of California has lost in its attempt to sue 6 major car dealers over environmental damage from their products. The legal action, the first (and presumably last) of its kind, demanded millions of dollars in compensation from General Motors, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Chrysler and Nissan. The judge ruled that the issue of whether carmarkers were accountable was a political, not legal, matter.

The Governator himself seems to have kept his head down on this one. Maybe because once upon a time Mr Schwarznegger persuaded GM to produce the avariciously thirsty civilian Hummer so that men with identity problems could play tough soldiers in suburbia.

But imagine what would have happened if the case had succeeded. A stack of copy cat actions would surely follow as the smell of money wafted around the world. The car industry could have been Terminated.

Hasta la vista, etc