Hydrogen fuel cell
The world’s biggest car company, General Motors, is investing heavily in developing the Hy-Wire, a car complete with a fuel cell that uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce a current that propels an electric motor.
Pros: The environmental lobby is impressed as it produces no CO2 and no air pollutants. The only byproducts are heat and water. Greenpeace wants more money invested in the development of such technology.
Cons: General Motors does not like to go into details of the car’s performance, but the experts believe the combination of its chunkiness and the relatively small motor means it will not be one for lovers of speed and acceleration.
Compressed natural gas
The Japanese giant Honda has produced a car, the Civic GX, which runs on gas rather than petrol or diesel. A device compresses gas from the household supply that can then be fed into the car using a gadget that could be attached to the driver’s garage wall. American motorists are likely to be able to start using the system early next year, reaching Britain soon after.
Pros: Honda claims its car is cheaper to run as well as being much cleaner. It believes the ability to fill up at home steers around the problem of there being few gas filling stations.
Cons: New technology never comes cheap. It is thought the gas-propelled Civic GX will cost about £15 000. Plus the environmentalists argue that a gas car will produce only a little less CO2 than petrol.
Solar power
In the late Nineties Honda was keen to trumpet the successes of its Dream car, which in 1996 propelled two people — lying back to back — at up to 112kph. But affordable cars powered simply by the sun’s rays remain some way off.
Pros: Truly the dream ticket for the environmental lobby. A commercially produced car powered simply by sun power would be clean and green.
Cons: A huge number of solar panels, which are not cheap, would be needed to produce enough power to allow a car to cruise along the motorway. And, of course, less sun means less power — no good in countries where sunshine is not a constant.
Biodiesel
Most diesel cars can now be converted to use biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oils and animal fats.
Pros: A step in the right direction as far as green campaigners are concerned. Cars that use biodiesel do release less greenhouse gas.
Cons: The environment lobby is not convinced biodiesel helps cut local air pollution. Plus, drivers of biodiesel cars sometimes complain of a chip fat smell.
Liquefied petroleum gas
Manufacturers such as Volvo have invested time and effort producing cars that can use both conventional fuel and liquefied pertoleum gas.
Pros: Gives a similar performance to petrol engines. Many existing cars can be easily converted. The technology is thought to cut down CO2 a little.
Cons: Drivers of liquefied pertoleum gas vehicles would argue there are not enough filling stations where they can find the fuel. Again, a small improvement on petrol or diesel as far as the green lobby is concerned.
Electric
The Reva G-Wiz, designed in California, made in Bangalore, is the latest completely electric car to attract attention. It has a top speed of 64kph, takes six hours to charge up and has a range of 64km.
Pros: Regarded as practical for getting around a busy city where it is difficult to go at more than 64kph anyway.
Cons: Environmentalists point out that the electricity used to charge the car up may well be produced by fossil fuel-burning power stations. Not all drivers are impressed with the appearance of electric cars. “It looks like it’s escaped from Trumpton,” said one reviewer. — Â