The All-Electric Car

Hybrid cars--operating on a combination of electricity and gasoline--are one of the more recent, and most practical, innovations in the fight against greenhouse gases and global warming. Electric cars would of course be the ultimate in reducing emissions, aside from those produced in the generation of the electricity used to power them.

But all attempts to produce a viable electric car have produced nothing that would be useable and practical to the average driver.

Electric cars are all very well if you do not wish to travel faster than 40-50 mph, or go more than 100 miles before recharging you batteries for several hours. But for most of us this isn’t a realistic option. Many of us however would still like to make a contribution to the good of the environment.  But without it adversely affecting our daily lives.  So the 'normal' hybrid cars are a great way to start towards this goal.

One direct and immediate benefit of driving a hybrid car is the reduction in your fuel bill. This has become more and more important recently with the escalating cost of gas at the pumps. A typical car driving around town will return fuel economy figures of less than 25 mpg. This can be much lower with the larger cars that many own and especially with SUV’s which often have alarmingly low fuel economy.

SUV's are often running at 15-25 mpg with many achieving less than 10 mpg!

This startlingly low, and increasingly expensive, figure can be improved dramatically by changing to any of the hybrid cars that are currently on the market. You should find it relatively easy to achieve figures in excess of 55 mpg; with even large SUV’s getting a figure of 30-40 mpg. This obviously depends on the type of driving you do, your hybrid car, and your style of driving, but there are considerable savings to be had.

But until now, all-electric cars have been more of a novelty or student type project. But now with lightweight chassis and panels being easier to produce and smaller high-powered long lasting batteries falling in cost, they are beginning to look much more like a viable proposition.

However, until the challeges of the limited range can be overcome, all-electric cars remain a novelty.

Fuel cell cars are another alternative to hybrid cars and are thought by many to be one of the best options for virtually emission free motoring. Motorists would buy fuel as liquid hydrogen this would then be mixed with oxygen from the air in much the same way as a conventional engine takes air and uses the oxygen to mix with the gas. This can be used to generate electric power to drive the car.

Although their are many alternatives hybrid cars still present the best and most viable way of increasing our fuel economy while lowering the emissions. Though with some of the new projects in the offing this may all change and we may see cleaner cars than ever appearing in our showrooms.

Enter your search terms Submit search form