Green Cars Won’t Cost the Earth
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When it comes to buying new cars, a lot of people fall in to one of two groups – those who don’t particularly care about the car itself, and will be looking for the cheapest option or the least likely to break down, and petrol heads who want the fastest, sleekest, coolest car they can find. ‘Green’ cars, using alternative or adapted technologies to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, have never really fitted into either of these groups. Sure, it’s a nice idea that you could help to save the planet by driving a different car, but when it comes to it, the majority of eco friendly cars don’t perform nearly as well as their petrol-powered counterparts, and they usually cost a lot more too.
But these ideas could change and soon. A heightened awareness of green issues and climate change combined with the general public’s need to find the cheapest cars to run in the recession means that people are starting to move towards buying more fuel efficient vehicles. Car buyers are starting to consider greener alternatives to petrol as a viable future for the car industry, and the technology is developing and improving in leaps and bounds. The latest eco friendly vehicles were on display at the Revolve Eco Rally recently, beginning on Brighton seafront and driving to City Hall in London. The cars were driven by celebrity guest drivers and they were met in London by Mayor Boris Johnson, who is a strong supporter of green transport and aims to cut London’s carbon emissions by 60%, for the What Car? Green Awards.
The rally and award ceremony were intended to demonstrate the capabilities of the latest green cars, and vehicles received awards for a number of different reasons. The overall winner was the Volvo S40 DRIVe for combining its green credentials and supreme fuel efficiency with safety, security and being an all-round good small family car – it’s still not cheap though, and for around £50 more you can buy a Toyota Avensis, winner of the large family car category. Other winners were the Mini Cooper S, which won best green sports car for the second year running, and for those who still have cash to spare and can afford to buy an Audi the A8 was named best green luxury car. The innovative Tesla scooped the Editors Award for its battery-powered Roadster, which takes electric cars to a whole new level and proves that they can perform as well as any car enthusiast could hope.
And the result of all this? Well, it seems as if green cars may be the future after all. Sure it’s true that they are still somewhat more expensive than most, but a time is fast approaching where they won’t cost the earth, and it seems like when they do become more affordable people will want one whatever type of car they normally drive.
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