Hybrids are no better in the real world than diesels
12 Jun, 2008
63 Comments 
Hybrids are no better in the real world than diesels
“cleangreencars.co.uk” say, “Just buy a diesel” after road testing three hybrids and three diesels.
The tests involved a return trip from central London to Brighton, which was a mix of city and motorway driving and the results are unexpected, to say the least.
In fact, fuel consumption figures indicated that the diesel models used less fuel and produced less C02.
The results of the tests are as follows:
TOYOTA PRIUS vs. JEEP PATRIOT 2.0 CRD
- Toyota Prius: 39.9 mpg (5.81L/100kms)
- Jeep Pariot: 38.9 mpg (6.0L/100kms)
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID vs. FORD FOCUS ECONETIC
- Honda Civic IMA: 40.2 mpg (5.85L/100kms)
- Ford Focus Econetic: 52.7 mpg (4.46L/100kms)
LEXUS GS450h vs BMW 535d
- Lexus GS450h: 28.5 mpg (8.25L/100kms)
- BMW 535d: 30.6 mpg (7.68L/100kms)
There is no question that Hybrids became popular in the United States because at the time, they were the only viable alternative to petrol-powered cars. Diesel powered passenger cars were almost unheard of due to relatively cheap fuel prices.
But with Americans now feeling the pinch (they are still paying 30% less than Australians) diesels are on the radar screen as a viable alternative to the Hybrids.
As reported by Car Advice today, the next generation of hybrids will be powered with Lithium ion batteries and be of the plug-in type. They will be far more efficient than the current cars, which use nickel-metal hydride batteries.
Clean Green Cars also makes the point that with the exception of around five Lexus models including; the GS450h and LS Hybrids which can actually drive at near enough to 40km/h on electric power only, hybrids spend little or no time driving solely on battery power. The Prius will just about get to a decent power walk pace, before the engine kicks in.
There is one advantage the prius has though, at least for the moment. That’s where the engine cuts out at idle, saving you some fuel but without losing you air conditioning function. But then, if the battery runs down, the car will start itself to recharge cancelling out the benefits.
But that advantage will be short lived as diesel engines with “stop start technology” are on their way here and that would put the oil burners in front again.
Even more interesting will be the diesel hybrid, which several carmakers are developing including Peugeot. We understand that they have one of these in test, which is recording near enough to 3.8l/100kms, combined.
The race for the smallest fuel consumption is on and as far as I can see, there is only upside for drivers.
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June 12th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
seriously,i hate to drive behind a diesel car….these few days i’ve been really unlucky-always driving behind a bus,and man….it sucks,and apparently the diesel fumes could cause brain damage.
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June 12th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Zero that is a very bad misconception, nearly all modern diesel cars have a particulate filter which keeps the fumes, and burns them every once in a while and releases a gas which is not harmful at all, the old diesels without a particulate filter are long gone!
Have a read of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.....ate_filter
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
What was the “mix of city and motorway driving”? Hybrids are better in the city and diesels are better on the motorway. London to Brighton is probably 80% motorway, therefore the “Test” strongly favours the diesel. Australia’s combined fuel economy rating is worse than useless, it is misleading. We need a City/Highway rating so that the car buying public can make a considered choice. For hybrids there is very little differance between city and highway ratings. The same cannot be said of the diesel.
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
…..all these people that are jumping on this hybrid bandawgon keep on forgetting that to build a hybrid car requires more energy, and more waste is left over as a consequence.
Do you people really believe that a sophisticated battery as fitted to a hybrid comes from outer space. To produce these batteries the pollution created is enormous.
Plus, these batteries need replacing at least once during cars expected life.
Then there is production of electric motors/generators that also create pollution, and are another part that a normal car does not have.
Modern diesels are the way of the future, not these nonsense hybrids that everyone keeps on talking about.
Think about this for a minute, a proposed Camry Hybrid would have a combined fuel consumption of 5.7L/100kms. Something of that magnitude and lower is easily achievable in a diesel vehicle, and all that without batteries and extra engines, and all that “HIDDEN” polution that these “green” customers conveniently forget about.
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Forget ‘em both!
What about CNG?
Can CA do a nice big article on this rarely touched subject? Supposedly (according to the courier mail) Qld has enough reserves to see us out until the flying car replaces four wheels. And they are producing it directly from the coal seams underground without having to mine.
Apparently though, the short term gain of selling it at a higher cost to India and China outweighs the benefit of keeping the most sparesly populated country in the dark ages and not leading the world in moving forward.
(CA - can you hit the bigwigs at Holden and Ford up about this? If experts are saying on your site that GM & Ford will be gone in 5 years, could this be their ticket to survival)
Or…
I remember back a few years ago Popular mechanics wrote about a patent for a car that ran on pure water by breaking it down into its base elements (Hydrogen and Oxygen), compressing, combusting (motive power) and only water was the result from the tailpipe. Supposedly though, OPEC brought this patent for heaps and it’s never been heard of since. Lets see some TT/ACA style investigative reporting on this one and see what it reveals.
I think Hybrids are a fad (like gas turbines) that’ll pass in a few years.
Diesel’s are at the end of their development cycle as well.
Hydrogen cells were close, but with the oil companies developing the retail outlets, we will just be in the same position in the future as now if we let them dictate the pricing. (Most abundant element in the universe I hear on this one)
In the overall scheme of things, why are’nt the Australian manufacturers creating their own ideas instead of waiting for the Yanks/Japs/germans to develop something? If it works then we would be a leading country rather than the followers that KRudd is turning us in to.
If you build it..they will come!
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Why are we talking about hybrids and diesels? We have huge resrves of LPG and the technology for it as well. If the Governments were serious about alternative fuels they would drop the price of LPG and it would force people away from petrol and diesel. Even at the ripoff price of 60 cents a litre my Falcon ute only costs me $30 a week to run and it is a work ute. Ford should bring out the new gas injection technology on the new V6 in 2010 in the Falcon and Territory and they will wont be able to keep up with the demand. Why havemt they done this already?
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I would take the results with a grain of salt until we figure how many kilometres were on the highway and how many in the city.
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Which performs better, diesel or hybrid?
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
alborz,
i found this at the website: “A diesel-powered vehicle equipped with functioning filter will emit no visible smoke from its exhaust pipe”
maybe,maybe the newer models of diesel vehicle dont emit any visible smoke
but all i know is that most of he older models of diesel vehicles have a cloud of black fumes shooting out ..the worst are the trucks and city buses
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
People like Fenno are saying diesel is at the end of its development.
How presumptuous to think that anything is at the end of its development potential. Think of when the HQ Holden came out and people were saying, “This IS modern. Nothing will ever be more modern than this!” If you never thought the Holden HQ was ultra modern, fine - insert 1982 Audi 100 or anything else you choose.
Rest assured, in our industrialised world, nothing stops improving. In fact, things are improving faster than ever, exponentially so.
For those assuming that city running favours the hybrid, I can say this: my Golf 1.9 Tdi can return indicated journey figures from my West Perth shack to my auld dears’ place in the suburbs and back as low as 4.4 to 4.6 l/100km. All you need is steady running and an average or better than average run with the traffic lights. On the open road, it’s the same. Keep the running nice and steady and the speed to 100 or 110 km/h in sixth, and four-point-fours and four-point-sixes are there for the taking.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Wheelstud,
With the possible exception of Western Australia - no there are not “huge” reserves of LPG - liquified natural gas. LPG is a byproduct of natural gas production and as gas reserves in the eastern states decline, so does the availability of LPG. In WA they are liquifiying the natural gas as quick as they can and shipping it off overseas recovering very little as LPG.
The answer - particularly for Australia - is as Fenno has suggested is CNG. The technology exists and has been apparently sucessfully applied in Argentina on a large scale.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
all hybrid should be BANNED from county roads, ever seen one trying to overtake a double B?.I have and it is deadly as it cannot pass and people behind the hybrid trying overtake get caught out. should have a idot tax on these city cars leaving the city zones.Go the diesels, lower fuel ueasge and all the power you need and mainly SAVE lives
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Just common sense. Lpg should be our priority.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
correct me if I’m worng, but isn’t most of LPG made from the same stuff petrol is? Crude Oil. Thats why its called liquid PETROLEUM gas. Its just a different form. There is a bit of it that comes out from natural gas resrves but the majority is made in the same fractional distillation towers as petrol and deisel and kero and butimen etc. Its cheaper at the moment because the government has decided to not have a mega huge tax on it (yet). If we start using it it’ll go up exactly the same as petrol.
Fenno, hydrogen is the most abundant element, except it either exists as water or highly volatile gas clouds in starts and space and would react violently.
I don’t get why hybrids arn’t built with the electric engine as the main one, with the petrol one acting only as a generator. Have two or four electric motors for each wheel, and the generator can feed the battery/electroc motors. This would simplify the engine significantly as it would be at constant revs, and wouldn’t need to be that big, even for large cars. If i remember correctly back to my school days, I believe thats how big locomotive trains work. And they can go pretty fast and pull hard.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
LPG isnt the answer at all… if the world was to switch to LPG it wouldnt last very long given it consumes 50% more then a regular petrol engine!
This Hybrid v Diesel argument is getting boring quickly, yes Hybrids aernt that much better then Diesel currently… but its leading to far better technology. Diesels are not…. Fuel for Diesel is more expensive….Diesels still and always will rely on oil… they still emmit harmful gases.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
^The point is its not how much of it is used if they do the same mileage as each, id go for the hybrid because petrol is cheaper than diesel. So hybrid is better isnt it?
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
TP, and hybrids don’t?
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Yes Alborz I’d have to agree you are right. So it does not matter Zero!
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Where did CarAdvice get the Prius v Jeep fuel consumption figures? Per Redbook its 4.4L per 100km vs 6.7L per 100km in favour of Prius… paintined a completely different image to the one CarAdvice has tried to.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
… might I add the Prius emits 100g per 100km CO2 compared to Jeep at 180g per 100km.
Martin hybrids dont what? They have a future, development towards electrics. Petrol is cheaper by 10c or something, so a Diesel has to be MORE efficient to equal it in cost for fuel.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
The point I am leading to Martin… is what exactly do Diesels offer? The technology seems to have reached its peak in terms of extracting power from the engines, hybrids are only getting better and better (did i mention, the Prius has a relatively old petrol/electric engien in it… yet still smashes modern diesels?)
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
A lot of assumptions made so far in relation to LPG.
What do hybrids emit TP?
Diesel Electric Locomotives have a diesel engine driving a generator powering electric motors no batteries. I think the main purpose is that electric drive with this many horses provides better traction and more manageable than if they had diesel only of this magnitude also negates the need for a gearbox which would be a weak link given the load etc.
Having a Hybrid which is predominately electric drive would require a larger electric motor hence more weight,bigger/more batteries etc whereas the increased weight of a 1500cc petrol engine is negligible over a 1000cc engine with same number of cylinders.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Jez, I do apoligise - yes of course LPG is liquified petroluem gas. But most - if not all of Australia’s LPG is extracted as a by-product of natural gas production and as such is very cheap to produce (in most cases simply cooling the natural gas down will condense the LPG). Yes it can also be produced in an oil refinery but is far more costly because of the energy involved in distilling from crude oil. Plus these days most oil refineries would hydrogenate their lighter ends (which could potentially be used to make LPG) to make heavier products such as petrol or diesel for which they can get a better price.
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
How does a Hybrid “smash” modern Diesels TP?
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June 12th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Interesting note on the PriArse versus Jeep comparo.
It seems the priArses trip computer reading was in the fifty mile per gallon range. Yet when the journo’s filled it up the actual fuel used was 39mpg!
Oops! Come clean (pun) Toyota are your trip computers exagerating economy?
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
If natural gas reserves are in decline why is it that the Power utilities in Australia are increasingly turning to Gas to fire power stations?
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Quote from www.fifthgeartv.co.uk
“Had we relied on the onboard computers, the Prius would have won by a landslide, as by the end of the trip they read 57mpg and 42mpg for the Prius and Jeep respectively”
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
TP, “Where did CarAdvice get the Prius v Jeep fuel consumption figures?”
Have a look at the heading at the top of the article. The answer is to be found there.
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Its interesting how diesel is more expensive and on top of that its also more expensive than its donor petrol car, the same can be said for a hybrid too though.
However, if we all run on diesel then thats going to get even more expensive, well simple laws of demand and supply…
Dont forget the Hybrids have been on the market for nearly 10 years and the “cleaner” diesels are relatively new…
Whether you drive, diesel, petrol, LPG, Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, Electric, Ethanol, nuclear etc; its going to have some impact on the environment.
There is no such thing as zero emission, even to produce electricity you need to use some resources.
The cars that have been tested are, barring one, are not even in the same segment.. I mean a prius with a Jeep, BMW 5 series with a Lexus which is more comparable to a 7 Series… Ford Focus Econotech is a relatively new car, just like the volkswagen polo bluemotion, check out the video on you tube of it being reviewed under everyday conditions by Fifth Gear, its claimed avg is 70mpg, but the real figures were close to 40mpg… thats a big difference.
Considering the difference in weights for the BMW and Lexus the fuel consumption is not that surprising..
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Even the computer is optimised for max spin!
Would get away with it too in most cases as usually only Car Nerds measure tank to tank.Ha ha ha.
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Noted Karl. Im suspect of these kind of real world tests though, they claim the CO2 is the same…. Redbook would say otherwise. They say similar fuel efficiency, but how exactly can they say both cars were driven EXACTLY the same.
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
HA HA - AND THE DIESEL DOES IT AGAIN.
Yes I agree with you TP- diesel does have to be more efficient , but hey it is by 20-30% with much nicer driving characteristics as well. All that lovely torque I keep hearing people say.
Antonii - you ask “what performs better diesel or hybrid?” the answers in the article. I’ve no doubts that a Hybrid would sway the lead the other way if a 100km run around a city was the only challenge. But not by a long shot. Rememer the Hybrid has to recharge its batteries. I for one was surpised the Prius cannot go about a brisk walking pace before the fossil fule power unit has to kick in.
I’m not knocking hybrids though as someday we’ll all be in one. Just currently the price premium over a petrol car is not worth the benefits.
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
If Prius is old generation old tech Hybrid what the hell is the worlds largest maker waiting for? Been charging an exorbitant price for these things for 12 years with no improvement?
Previous blog explains how Toyota got the smarts for nothing which would be the most expensive to develop.
Still as cosmetically challenged as ever although this has helped establish the brand i.e that ugly car must be one of those hybrids.
I doubt Toyota would rest on its laurels and overcharge for old tech?
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I measure tank to tank….
I’m pretty sure that all trip computers lie. They don’t count the time the car is travelling close to 0. In my suzuki if i were to sit at idle for an hour, it would read as 0L/100km, as i’m sure would toyota’s computers. And lexus admits that the aim of their hybrids is not economy but rather performance.
And as much as everyone would like to think that deisels are clean, they’re still worse than petrol. You can’t get around that, its chemistry, the heavier oil fractions will always burn less cleanly than the lighter ones.
Of course electric cars arn’t necessarily 100% clean. But if you were to get the electricity from green sources, wind, hydro, solar, etc, then it would be 100% clean. And hydrogen cars are in a way electric cars as well. Its just that teh electricity is put in at some factory/power station somewhere which seperates the water into hydrogen/water, and then the hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water again, releasing that energy into your car. Its just a form of energy storage.
And if we have a hydro-car future, won’t water then be scarce? e.g. Half of Australia has hardly enough water to drink, let alone power our cars.
I guess we’ll have to send space ships to Jupiter to collect hydrogen.
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
just so you know, diesel fuel wont run out, they can run on garbage and liquified coal gas
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
not literal garbage
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
That little VW engine in the Patriot is a cracker and Toyota doesn’t have anything to compete with it! especially that petrol guzzling, gutless 1.5 litre engine in the Prius!
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June 12th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Toyoda SUX, they talk about Ford’s new Falcon recieving too much attention, how about this Hybrid dribble, It’s like they have just discovered something new..
SORRY BUT LPG AND DIESEL ARE BETTER OPTIONS, PEOPLE DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE HANDING OVER HARD EARNT CASH FOR GOLF CARTS, BATTERY POWER IS A PROPER JOKE
TOYODA SUX !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
TP, what makes you think that diesel engines have reached their peak development? What makes anyone think ANYTHING has reached their peak development?
Next year’s Peugeot 308 diesel hybrid is the tip of the ice berg.
After that, diesel engines with more power, more torque combined with better economy will continue unabated, just like with everything else.
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
The diesel hybrid makes far more sense. Strange how no one thought of it before.
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
diesel (nor) LPG can’t be the answer because it comes from exactly the same place as petrol does. And theres just as little of it left, and its being controlled by OPEC just as much.
Electricity is a much more abundant and flexible energy solution. Hybrid is just the interim solution before we go 100% electric. (or some variant of it)
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Gift - Toyota was the first company to release a Diesel Hybrid through it’s subsidary ‘Hino’
Hino is now increasingly offering more diesel hybrids within it’s truck range.
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
True, Jez.
But right now, and probably for a few more years yet, diesel, LPG and hybrids is as good as it’s gonna get.
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Thank you “cleangreencars.co.uk” for confirming mine and many of the other more enlightened car enthusiast’s belief. Diesel is the way to go at the moment, and then diesel hybrids will be the best possible alternative until they iron out the bugs with Hydrogen.
If they are smart all the greeny band wagoners will sell their underachieving Prius’s and buy 308’s and Golf’s and then the world can be a cleaner and substantially less boring place.
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June 12th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
diesel, hybrid, hybrid diesel/petrol, …, don’t know why all goverment people and car manufactures forget about the LPG option in Australia. LPG car costs roughly the same to make while it may not reduece CO2, it’s cheaper to run. And yes, I don’t buy the crude oil shortage story, the price spike is mainly caused by the speculators banking money on oil future contracts. and yes, when a recession happens in US, a typical stretegy happends again, suck the money from middle class. what a PLAY!
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June 12th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Weirluo,
You could always have a diesel with fogger LPG injection! the government will give you 2grand for the conversion too.
Your right with LPG being a viable option. Firstly on a cost perspective. there is was a test between a prius and a lpg territory that came out a draw on a cost basis.
Second and more importantly is that it will untie australia from overseas oil. With billions of dollars not going to line sultans pockets our balance of trade will improve, which will inturn reduce interest rates and we can all dance in the streets drinking ridicously expensive alcopops.
That is until one of those silent priArse’s driven by a half blind ecomentalist delerious from the inner warmth they exude under the mistaken belief they are single handledly saving the planet.
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June 12th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
The big change taking place at the moment is not diesels improving from 6lt/100km to 4lt/100km, or even that hyrbids are getting attention and may or may not be a sham.
The big change which is occuring at the moment is that many consumers are moving away from big heavy vehicles into smaller lighter ones. And also those who can’t live without their big heavy vehicle are finding they can get it with much lower consumption in the latest high performance diesels.
What has bigger greenhouse benefit - moving someone from a corrola to a prius, or moving someone from a push rod v8 truck/SUV into a high performance diesel sedan?
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June 12th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
can someone tell me how much excise/tax the govt. charges on LPG?
(I think that might be the answer to why its so cheap)
Once everyone starts using it the tax will come in.
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June 13th, 2008 at 2:59 am
TP don’t rely on redbook for any figures. They are a rough guide only and very rough at that. If you don’t take any notice of real world tests then you are too biased towards toyota you shouldnt even bother posting on here because your opinion is worth garbage.
I would still choose turbo diesel over hybrids because of the much better performance for much the same economy.
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June 13th, 2008 at 9:43 am
there is a way of making diesels better. they have done it with big 4×4. you duel fuel diesel and lpg, this makes the car have more power and torque. plus the emissions are greatly reduced, because the lpg burns the left over diesel.
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June 13th, 2008 at 10:13 am
THE FUTURE IS LPG!
Made in Australia, no need to give the scam-arabs a cent more than we have to.
Cheers
F-0
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June 13th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Make LPG cars, not LPG conversions. I believe a gas tank at the back of the car(even I believe it’s safe) will stop many people from doing the conversion. Some dislike the reduced boot space, some may just hate seeing an ugly tank there. In Germany, there are factory manufactured LPG cars, such as LPG Subaru Forester, oh yes, that’s nice! I don’t think I am the smart one here and believe all car industry people and politic Assh000ls know about LPG car option. The fact is, they need a new money machine to stimulate the going to recession economy, new technology such as hybrid is perfert for sucking middle class money.
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June 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
we all know diesels generally currently perform better then hybrids, espeically in the highway environment… what frustrates me is diesel/LPG is OLD technology that is still based on fossil fuels. If anything they are merely a stop gap, short-term solution to the long term answer which is most likely electrically driven vehicle in the form of either fuel cells or some form of battery
you are comparing a completely mature technology nearly at the end of development life (diesels) with technology still in its infancy (hybrids) and yet expect hybrids to be better… i think hybrids are doing a damn good job staying competitive with ICE’s - which lets face it still command the majority of all R&D dollars…
by purchasing a hybrid - i am arguing that u are promoting this future technology - providing more sales to the manfuacturers which will enevitably led to greater investment and development into these technologies.. which means the end game of full electric vehicles is that one step closer…
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June 13th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
trackdaze Says:
“Your right with LPG being a viable option. Firstly on a cost perspective. there is was a test between a prius and a lpg territory that came out a draw on a cost basis.”
***
trackdaze, can you provide a link or reference to that test please? I would be very interested in reading it.
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June 13th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
so what if they consume the same amount of fuel? its running costs that drives the consumers, and diesel is still 50c dearer per liter than petrol. and if we all switch to diesel, the price will only go up further. these savings margins are only going to increase as the price of oil continues to rise. we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. hybrids is a step in that direction.
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June 13th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Grant?????? 50c dearer. If your going to make figures up atleast make them believable!
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June 13th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Nuclear reactors and electric cars is the solution.
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June 14th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Jimbo, 50c more may be hyperbole. but it was exactly 30c more expensive today on my way to work, so my point still stands. $1.86 vs $1.56.
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June 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I think Diesel hybrid would be intersting… perhaps there are difficulties putting it into a passenger vehicle or the oil groups are lobbying against it.
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June 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Quite so, TP. Diesel engines’ higher compressions were just the start of the head aches, development-wise. With their less civilsed start-up and shut-down behaviour caused by the compressions of 22:1 and the like, much work was needed to get the diesel-hybrid up to petrol-hybrid standards in this regard.
There’s much more to it than that. Technically, Wheelnut knows a lot more and it was discussed in a blog here about a month ago. I forget which one.
The Peugeot 308 diesel hybrid is out next year.
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June 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
In the short term hybrids are not the answer as they are way too short term as pollution will still be caused! And in an increasing world population, that means more drivers and pollution will still occur and a nominal slower rate then now!
Hydrogen is the answer………..”Hydrogen, being a fuel that burns cleanly, it can directly address polluting emissions.”
“When you burn hydrogen you produce only water, so there is no CO2 produced, so no impact on greenhouse gas emissions.” (HYBRIDS STILL WILL PRODUCE CO2 EMISSIONS AND ARE STILL RELIANT ON PETROL AND/OR ELECTRICITY).
Seems to me all people are blinded by this fact thinking it is the answer…..its only a stepping stone to next level (e.g. full electric or hydrogen)!
Diesel hybrids and LPG hybrids are much better and lower fuel usage!
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June 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Grant, the diesel you saw today was 19.2% dearer than standard unleaded. Situation normal. Always has been.
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June 16th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Diesel Hybrids sound good in theory but they will be very expensive to produce (think of the added costs of Diesel and the added cost of Hybrids and add the figures together…)
Also to correct Alborz, a large number of Diesel cars sold in Autralia still do not have particulate filters fitted as standard. These include the 1.9TDI and 103KW TDI Golfs, Hyundai i30 diesels and most light commercials such as the Hilux (but there are many others). The french makes generally lead the way in fitment of these devices.
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