Day Seven: The Good Stuff

Part of the Greenpeace Motor Show blog

Firstly, I gave rather short shrift to the Peugeot HybrideHDi on day one (revisited). I should perhaps have been a bit more curious, as one of the reasons why european manufacturers have been a bit slow off the mark on the Hybrid bandwagon is that we, unlike the US, have a large diesel sector in the private car market, and diesel engines have an efficiency gain over petrol which is almost as big as a hybrid's. However, the Peugeot is a hybrid diesel, and therefore should have the best of both worlds, possibly getting better results than other hybrids.

On closer inspection, this appears to be the case, but only just. There aren't precise and detailed figures for this vehicle (Peugeot 307 CC with HybrideHDi drive) as it is an experimental prototype and the results will vary as they try different configurations etc. However, it seems as though it could end up being more efficient than the Prius, but only by a few percent. Given that it isn't scheduled to come onto the market for 'up to ten years', I would hope that by the time you can buy one there'll be far more impressive options available. Either that or we're all doomed.

The Mercedes owned Smart car will 'soon' be available in EV form - ie with batteries. They've managed to piss me off so much with their mean-spirited marketing campaign, and their reticence on how much it will cost (lots more than the currrent EVs, I would guess), that I'm very reluctant to say anything positive about it at all. But for the enlightenment of my dedicated fans (that's you, BTW) I'll swallow my pride. It's fundamentally the same as the EVs already on the market (see below) but with a 40% higher top speed and range, and probably a 100% higher price. If you buy one of these then you are guaranteed a place in heaven, but if you want your own saint's day, you need either the NICE or the G-wiz.

The G-wiz, from Goingreen, is the most popular electric car in the world, and is probably my favourite production car. It's not really very cutting edge, using lead acid batteries, and even though it's just had its motor upgraded its top speed is only 45mph and its range fully charged is just under 50 miles.

However, it's a deal, it's a steal, it's the sale of the bleedin' century.

You can get one for under £7K (or £8K for the new, upgraded AC model), it costs 1p a mile to run, you get free or nearly free (4percent of the cost for petrol vehicles) parking all across London, you're exempt from the Congestion Charge and Road Tax and if it's a company car you get the lowest rate on that too.

This all applies to the slightly more expensive (£10K) NICE (No Internal Combustion Engine) Mega City. It's pretty similar in most respects but a little smarter in design and a little more comfortable and convenient. It's also slightly slower at 40mph, but when the average speed of a car journey in London is 12mph, that shouldn't be much of a problem. They've also got an electric motorbike, a delivery van and a rather funky convertible prototype which may go into production next year.

The best thing about both of these companies is their holistic aproach - they're not just selling you a car, they're selling you an integrated transport, parking and refuelling system with benefits for the whole community. Want to drive up to Scotland? They have a deal going with streetcar where you can park and plug in your EV at 120 locations around London and borrow a VW Golf ($4.95 per hour, discounts for periods over a day). Worried about the CO2 from manufacturing? They off-set it - not the perfect solution, particularly in the case of NICE where their off-setting includes tree-planting, but they've thought about it. Worried about the CO2 from electricity generation? They are both promoting green electricity tariffs so that you can recharge your car from renewable sources. Goingreen also offer to off-set your first 16,000 miles, but if you go for a green tariff then that's actually doubling up - you go from carbon neutral to carbon negative.

By driving this car, you're actually cleaning the atmosphere.

Finally, my favourite non-production car, the PML QED.

I realise that no-one has heard of PML, never mind the QED (Quad Electric Drive), but this is so cutting edge I could have had another shave. PML specialise in certain types of electric motor, generally not used in cars, and they have managed to miniturise a very powerful (160bhp) motor so that it fits into a car wheel.

So you get four of them.

Which is 640bhp, equivalent to the most outrageously silly supercars available.

With nothing under the bonnet at all, leaving space for another clever trick or two.

PML have taken a Mini, although they could do the same to any car model, chucked out the engine, brakes and gearbox, fitted their motors to the wheels and added a Lithium Polymer battery (far more efficient and proportionately more expensive than lead acid), replaced the brakes with a large ultra capacitor which absorbs the energy lost through decceleration and can rapidly dump 80% of it for acceleration, and a teeny, tiny petrol engine (0.25 litre) to act as a generator when the battery gets down to 50% power.

This is a series hybrid, where all the power comes via the battery, and it can out-perform most petrol supercars, whilst being housed in a Mini. It can do 0-60 in around 4 seconds, and has the same range as a petrol car (i.e. anywhere with petrol stations). Despite its performance outstripping Porsches and Ferraris, it can do 80 miles to the gallon, significantly more than a Prius, and, were the technology scaled down to give the performance of an ordinary family car, it could do so at well over 100mpg and, were it mass-produced, at a cost of around £18K.

So, the technology is there, as ever, and, as ever, we just have to wait for the political will.

Hopefully you'll hear more about PML in the next year or so, but, in the meantime, you know what to buy to secure your place in heaven.

Tomorrow, lots of gorgeous photos of unusually shiny cars.