Alternatives to petrol: is it time to consider electric or hybrid cars?
With the price of petrol and diesel set to rise by more than inflation in this year's budget it's likely that in the coming months fuel costs will reach higher levels than most of us have seen before, making already recession-hit private and business drivers look around for new ways of cutting fuel consumption. Many of us have already altered the way we drive in order to make fuel savings, not only for economic reasons, but also to reduce carbon intake.
Environmentally-oriented vehicle tracking systems such as EcoTrak fuelfrom CMS SupaTrak are being used by fleet managers to encourage their drivers to reduce fuel consumption through better driving practices, helping them to comply with the new environmental laws such as carbon reduction schemes. Meanwhile private drivers too are seeking to make fuel savings through applying driving tips from experts, such as reducing speed, avoiding engine idling and turning off air conditioning.
But as petrol and diesel costs continue to rise faster than wages, it seems that better driving practices alone will not be enough and alternative fuel sources are becoming a more realistic option, especially as technology begins to catch up and with the government already promising financial incentives to drivers who use them, either through schemes such as the recently proposed Plug in Car Grant, or through the waiving of the London congestion charges for drivers of electric cars.
While the majority of both private and commercial cars and vans in the UK still run on petrol or diesel, in recent years LPG (liquid petroleum gas) has become fairly widely available. It currently enjoys less tax than petrol and diesel and therefore is cheaper, but although it produces fewer emissions than petrol it is still derived from a fossil fuel and therefore may not continue to receive tax benefits in the future, as cleaner options become available.
In part two of the article, we look at some of these cleaner options, some of which still need more research, but which are quickly looking as though they will be here in the near future.
