Its ze only vay to force ze mufacturers to research into low emission, high efficiency vehicles.

It's time ze Yanks voke up to reality!

Carmakers drive for the hybrid vehicle as petrol prices soar
They believe the technology is a dead end but American consumers leave them with no choice. Dominic O’Connell and Ray Hutton report from the Frankfurt motor show



CAMERON DIAZ drives one. So do Julia Roberts and Sting. But hybrid cars, which cut fuel consumption by supplementing ordinary engines with electric power, will soon be much more than fashion accessories for image-conscious stars.



Soaring fuel prices, with petrol zipping past £1 a litre in parts of Britain last week, have changed big car companies’ attitudes to hybrids. What was an interesting but costly diversion has suddenly become a must-have technology.

The new vehicles were all the rage at last week’s Frankfurt motor show, the biannual jamboree for the world’s automotive industry. One by one the big German manufacturers unveiled plans for hybrid cars, each powered by a combination of petrol engine and electric motor. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen all expect to have hybrids available by the end of the decade.

But they, and many of their American rivals, are reluctant innovators. None is approaching the idea with much enthusiasm, grumbling that they regard hybrids as a dead-end technology that does not deliver the savings promised.

All have been driven to hybrids by anticipated demand in America. There, the Toyota Prius has been a runaway success, loved by Hollywood actors and other celebrities who want to show their environmental concerns.

Although the first Prius was an ungainly beast, the latest version is a svelte five-seat saloon that can do 100 mph with a combined average fuel consumption of 65.7 miles per gallon and whose exhaust emissions are among the lowest of any car on the road.

It runs on petrol or electricity, or both, and sophisticated computer controls ensure that the batteries are always charged by the petrol engine, so there is no need to plug it into a domestic socket.

Toyota has sold almost 6,000 of the cars in Britain since the first version was launched in 2000.

The German manufacturers maintain that diesel engines can achieve comparable, or better, fuel consumption than hybrids. In some countries in Europe, diesels now account for more than 50% of new car sales.

Helmut Panke, BMW’s chief executive, said: “I see it [hybrid technology] as a niche application. It has its uses in congested areas, but elsewhere you can achieve results that are as good or better with diesel engines. Why would a farmer in Scotland, or Wyoming, ever want to buy a hybrid?”

But diesel cars have never caught on in America. Even with increased fuel prices after Hurricane Katrina, petrol in America still costs half as much as in Britain, so fuel consumption is less of a concern to those who favour big, heavy 4x4s and pick-up trucks. And now diesels are being squeezed out of America by the “Tier 2” federal exhaust-emission regulations that will be applied progressively up to 2009.

Unlike Europe, where petrol and diesel engines have different emissions standards, in America both have to meet the same criteria, which includes an ultra-low requirement for particulates (soot) and oxides of nitrogen that are difficult and expensive for car manufacturers to meet with diesels.

For America, as Toyota has shown, the lower consumption, environment-friendly alternative is the hybrid. Earlier this year, two of Detroit's “Big Three” carmakers, General Motors and Daimler Chrysler, agreed to work together on the development of hybrids. The deal had only just been signed when, to everyone’s surprise, BMW, Daimler’s main rival in Europe, asked if it could also join the party.

BMW and Daimler’s Mercedes car division both showed hybrid prototypes at the Frankfurt motor show, but they are of a different type to the “two mode” transmission system devised by GM which is the basis of the trio’s joint development. The first production models — likely to be heavyweight 4x4s — are expected in 2009.

A business planning to develop the world's first water-powered car will launch in the UK later this week.

Commercial trials of the cheap, clean-fuel technology, which separates hydrogen from water, could begin in a year's time. Some larger vehicles such as buses are already powered by hydrogen, but it is expensive and dangerous to distribute large amounts of hydrogen as fuel.

The "Electro Hydrogen Generator" is being developed by OM Energy and, once fitted inside a car, would extract the hydrogen from water and mix it with petrol. Should the new technology, the first of its kind, prove successful, vehicles would use water as the main fuel supply and need only a small amount of petrol.

The generator works by spinning the water very quickly, creating an electro-magnetic field which splits the hydrogen from the oxygen. Current methods of separating hydrogen, using fossil fuels or electrolysis, release harmful emissions into the environment. The technology also has other applications, such as powering ships.
Dr Fulcieri Maltini, an independent consultant who has reviewed the technology, said: "It's a completely novel way to produce hydrogen."

Car manufacturers are trying to develop new technologies, such as fuel cells or "hybrid" cars with batteries, which are more efficient and environmentally friendly than petrol or diesel. But manufacturers are divided over which works best.

OM Energy is a Russian venture but UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), an arm of the Government, has persuaded it to domicile in the UK by attracting funding from international institutional investors and individuals. UKTI runs the Global Entrepreneurs Programme to attract overseas investment to the UK.

OM Energy has already applied for a patent for the technology. If it succeeds, the Government will take a proportion of any sales.

The energy minister has fired a shot across the bows of oil companies and motor manufacturers, urging them to invest more in stemming climate change. Malcolm Wicks said the oil giants "have a bob or two in their pockets" and should recognise that they needed to "become part of the solution" to global warming.

He was responding to a question about whether the Government should impose a windfall tax, whose proceeds would be invested in measures such as burying harmful carbon dioxide in the North Sea.


Malcolm Wicks: 'not a level playing field'
Wicks was particularly forthright in his criticism of motor manufacturers. "Why is the industry so slovenly about producing more energy efficient cars?" he queried.

Passenger journeys on the modern public transport light rail and tramway systems in England have increased by 8.4 per cent in 2004/05, compared with the previous year. In all, 154.8 million journeys were made on the modern light rail systems in England in the year to 31 March 2005. On national rail, passenger journeys in 2004/05 increased by 7.3 per cent on the previous year, to 1,088 million journeys. For London Underground there was a rise of 3.0 per cent, to 976 million journeys.
source: Public Transport Statistics Bulletin GB: 2005 Edition, HMSO

A large proportion of the British population, have grasped the importance of preventing congestion in towns & cities by using public transport. It remains to persuade the remaining dinosaurs that they face extinction if they don’t shape up.

What a load of environMentalism.

Hybrid cars don't deliver energy savings (even if you ignore the waste of having two engines).

Passenger journeys on the modern public transport light rail and tramway systems in England have increased by 8.4 per cent of diddly squat.

The figures look impressive.

Until you put them into context.