Is there really any good reason not to go green in your motoring habits anymore?
You recycle your waste, you walk, cycle or take public transport whenever you can, and you minimise the use of packaging and supermarket bags right?
But do you drive an environmentally friendly car?
This will make a far bigger environmental impact than all the other measures put together, particularly if you love travelling around. And what’s more – it will send the right message to your friends, neighbours, and family – but most importantly of all, your children.
But there are downsides. First of all, hybrid cars are still relatively expensive to buy – but that is changing fast.
For example, a brand new Honda Insight 1.3 (Petrol Hybrid) CVT will cost you less than £17k on the road; and the new car offers over 64 miles per gallon with 101 CO2 (g/km),and zero road tax.
So if you’re thinking about it – there are two basic types of hybrid to consider; the series hybrid or the parallel hybrid. Series hybrids use the combustion engine to generate electricity and that then powers the electric motor which provides the power. With parallel hybrids, the vehicle can be powered by the engine – or from a battery-powered drive-train.
Of course, hybrids are greener and cheaper to run, so can save you money in the long run.
And they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by somewhere around 25% compared to a “normal” car.
Hybrids also depreciate in value much more slowly than petrol-powered cars – yet need no more maintenance than conventionally-fuelled cars.
They work particularly well and efficiently on congested roads and in urban areas as electric motors tend to work best at low speeds.
There are few excuses left not to own one.