Greener Civic Hybrid fleet for Queensland

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By George Skentzos | April 28th, 2008

Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh and Public Works Minister, Robert Schwarten have both accepted delivery of the first of 50 Honda Civic Hybrids.

The Hybrid’s have been purchased by the Queensland Government as part of its QFleet Climate Smart Action Plan 2007-2010 – an initiative aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In total 10 Honda Civic Hybrids have been delivered so far, with the ambition to reduce emissions for the entire government fleet by 15 per cent by the end of 2010, and by 50 per cent in 2017.

Premier Bligh also announced that by 2020, 100 per cent of the Government fleet emissions would be offset.

“The Queensland Government has an extensive fleet and the cars we buy are important as they not only end up in the government fleet but then in the community – so it is important we are selecting the best vehicles.” Premier Bligh said.

The Honda Civic Hybrid is Australia’s most affordable Hybrid at $32,990 and uses just 4.6 litres/100km on combined cycle.

No Name

******** F R U G L O ********

Aaah now theres a change. Politians leading by Example
Marc

Thank goodness they didn’t choose Priuses.

The Civic’s so much better, and cheaper to boot.
No Name

Funny you mention the prius. In the UK the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) withdrewn Toyotas advert for the Prius as it made false claims i.e. the prius can reduce your CO2 emmissions by 1 tonne a year. The ASA looked at the claim proved it was overstated comparing it to a small diesel and pulled the ad.

So the proof is there that Hybrids are not the green solution they are claimed to be. 4.6litres/100 is nothing to write home about.
Dlunn64

Jobs to Japan or Thailand, wherever the civic is made.
What happened to buying Australian Made vehicles?
Do we have to close down another Australian Vehicle Manufacturing Plant for these idiots to wake up to themselves and buy the local product.
Andrew M

good point No Name,
honestly wouldnt it be better to spend the money on say an i30 that has proven better eficiency?
also they would save over 10K poer head on them.

also a good point Dlunn64.
i think the government should concentrate on other efficiencies and more beneficial things to the community before they try to impress us into thinking they actually care by purchasing a vehicle with a slot car motor attached
Myke

Well Dlunn, if Toyota actually offered Australia a hybrid Camry built here, then perhaps they would buy Australian Made vehicles. Toyota really treat Australia like second-rate tarts; only one hybrid, no diesels unless you buy a 4WD or commerical and no ESP on their best-seller.
o

i remember last year ana was talking about her new diesel fleet of cars and was talking about how commodores went cutting it anymore due to lack of dieslel then she said we have chosen a quality car from a great manufactura lol it was chysler.
Reckless1

Ha!!!

A government that’s only half stupid.

If they’d gone for the Prius they would be fully stupid.

If they’d gone for Falcon on LPG they’d be both very smart (for choosing Australian and cheap to run) and very stupid (for choosing the most unreliable of the Ford fleet).

Hard to please everyone here
Ben

wow thats just great for the australian car industry
trackdaze

What a toss.

They would have been better off buying LPG cars or Diesel.

Queensland is a big state Presumably they’re not going to be using these for big distances we’re hybrids stuggle to get 6cylinder economy.
GRS77

It’s great they are doing something, but when you consider this token effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be completely negated by just one new Powerlink Powerline development in the Sunshine Coast area – a small project compared with the $5bn + they are spending on hooking up to coal fired power stations in the rest of the state! It really is extreme greenwash, without tackling the underlying problem.
Fenno

Good job Anna Bligh…(ahem). Another “smart” decision from the “smart” state…Why dont you give yourself another payrise. What about sinking some money into R& D so that we can be self-sufficient on Gas and stop relying on the OPEC terrorists once and for all…? Nah, that’d be seen as being proactive and the “smart” state wants to be reactive by waiting until the sh1t hits the fan first…(water/power/transport shortage anyone?)
fritz

Man she’s hot….. ohhhhhh Anna… ..go-anna. i need a smoke now.
swampdawg

OH, is that a woman pictured in the car? Fritz you sicko.
Fenno for premier. Australia should be heading toward flexfuel cars as well and supporting our farmers but oil companies have our nuts in a vice and the ‘Government’ supports them.
TP

Andrew diesel is wrose for environment then hybrid

As for this thing, the Prius is recognised as being superior to Civic hybrid (marketing claims aside). Id say they went for Civic cos its cheaper.. but people still perceive those in govt as doing the righr thing
No Name

This is Genuine Folks – last nite driving home to pick up my son I passed a Prius in a garage hood up, flat battery, even had the booster cables attached. ha ha thats really funny and not a dig at TP and Toyota. Genuine
http://aca Supporter Of Toyota Motorsport

Myke – you are WRONG.

To begin with, Toyota is only 1 of 2 companies in Australia that sell hybrids and the biggest at that while many diesel engines do exist in their considerable range of 4×4′s and commercials which account for a considerable share of thier fleet. That said, as with most others all of their petrol engines are Euro4 compliant.

In a nut shell – Toyota supplies Euro4 compliant petrol engines, diesels and an array of hybrid vehicles (consider Lexus) so your statement is partially incorrect.

Regarding safety, admittedly Toyota Australia made an embarrassing call regarding no ESP on the Corolla but that oversight will be rectified in August this year. And when it has been, Holden will still be selling 2 star death traps while i believe the Epica comes with no ESP !!

Apart from that, Toyota vehicles are competitively rated amoung the safest in Australia with all of them scoring solid points.
http://realcarsbigpond.net.au realcars

yes the Honda is the lesser of two evils and actually looks like a regular car not a Pirus spaceship thingo.

Egas Falcons would have been the way to go but then again Ford don’t have enough spin on their product to light the publics imagination so roll in a hybrid!
Hey Egas Corolla twice as efficient as a Hybrid for half the price!

If all things were equal we would be all running our cars on LPG in Australia rather selling it to China for nicks.
Duck

Anti-Spam word civic! Ha!

Please get rid of that picture of Annah Bleigh. Yuk!
Myke

Supporter of Toyota Motorsport,
If you read what I said clearly, I stated that Toyota do have diesels but only in 4WDs and commercials vehicles, I’m talking about their pure passenger lineup, vehicles like the Corolla, Aurion, Camry etc.

Toyota Australia have one hybrid in their lineup, Lexus obviously have a wider choice of hybrids for ~$90,000 and up. The Prius by itself, in the immediate Toyota lineup is not enough to justify that it has wide choice of hybrids.

Yes the Epica doesn’t have ESP, but it is hardly selling at the same rate as the Corolla. The Barina is a definite mistake, but I have a feeling it will be short-lived.
mark

the delay on esp in the corolla was the fact that they were having trouble setting it up for aust conditions, so they had to wait. the only thing that is stopping a aust camry hybrid is the government and their lack of commit to it as toyota is up for it but they have said it is in their court. also have you seen the alloys on the civic hybrid they are the most ugly things you have ever seen!!
Andrew M

just to settle a few scores,

civic is as ugly as the prius,
Peter Beatie was a better looking premier than Annah Bleigh

Realcars,
i agree mate
i think ford has missed a big shot with the E-gas falcon.
yes its still great, but they could have made it a massive hit if they werent so lazy.

they could have easily thrown in a vapour system and offered something other than the 4sp auto.
also once they did that, they could have thrown out all their marketing staff and got some people who are keen to sell stuff and appreciate their jobs a little more.
i mean what they could have done if they had have followed my ideas is create an E-Gas falcon with a decent vapour system and 6sp auto that would stack up like this……..
210kw
425nm
and the biggest one……..
9.2L/100k @ 68 cents per litre
i mean how dumb would you have to be if you couldnt sell that????
http://realcarsbigpond.net.au realcars

That’s the problem Andrew too many dummies and too many missed opportunities.

Too many people getting paid too much with way too little brain power.

Talk about balance of payments and trade deficits what an ideal way to reduce these? Send it to China for nothing and pay through the nose to import oil. Then buy a Hybrid for your Government department and claim you’ve done stokes!!!

Bloody idiots mate and that’s why we are neck deep in chinese consumer goods that last five minutes and local manufacturing is in the shitter.

The idiots running our Industry and Governments cannot get their collective heads around more than one concept at a time.

Now China once again is buying up our resource companies with bullshit chinese companies backed 100% by the Chinese government. They tried it a while ago with American oil producers and the Yanks wouldn’t wear it and rightly so.

Now Swan is reportedly entertaining the idea. Bloody hopeless.
warren

Good on ya Anna! (I still reakon she should be in radio!)
Meanwhile the rest of the governments fleet are big, heavy and thirsty cars.
Cameron

TP
Diesel is worse for the environment? That entirely depends on your argument. Diesel produces less CO2 emissions than petrol engines, and if you go off the Prius Vs BMW 5 article, it still consumes less fuel. Add new technology and particulate filters, their particulate output is very small. Considering global warming is THE current environmental issue I would suggest that diesels are a better interim solution for the environment.
jbot

Andrew M, your stupidity continues to amuse me.

210kw
425nm
and the biggest one……..
9.2L/100k @ 68 cents per litre

Its not going to happen. Get over it. You cannot simply add to the power and torque figures because the fuel has a higher kJ/g value. There are so many more factors which come into engine design which neither you nor I understand.
Cameron

Jbot – Andrew isn’t stupid, he’s just a visionary, right? OK so maybe a dreamer then……….Andrew? Back me up here buddy………Andrew?
Maybe its just a marketing decision not to release it hey Andrew? Mate?
Turbodewd

For an Australian govt to buy overseas vehicles is unAustralian. Its treason. The idea is good but why cant they plant a million trees instead. Buy Australian pls Premier Bligh. (what a traitor she is)
summerschool

good point Turbodewd

hv they consider lpg gas run cars? we are selling gas to Japan and China at stupid price…