Hybrid should be viewed as an interim solution, though. A hard-driven Escape SUV, for example, will probably not return any better fuel economy than an equivalent diesel-powered SUV. Even the Car of the Year winner Toyota Prius hybrid isn't remarkably fuel efficient on long motorway runs (although it really claws back the advantage around town).
And while diesels have come a long way, the myth that they are 'green' is just that. Sure, they produce less CO2 emissions, but the particulates spewed out by even the most modern are potentially quite harmful.
Within the constraints of a free marketplace, the motor industry is doing all it can to deliver more fuel-efficient vehicles. And as with the huge advances made in car safety, the long-term solutions to energy consumption will have to come from within the industry (albeit with a large legislative nudge from government).
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| Strange days: Arnold Schwarzenegger poses in his hydro-fuelled Hummer |
But here's the rub - the motor industry has a moral responsibility to reduce its impact on the environment, just as it had to make cars safer. But it is also in the business of selling a product that is wrapped up in all sorts of quite irrational emotions. Has anyone ever walked into a BMW showroom and said, 'You know, what I really need for my motoring requirements is a four-door saloon with a 500bhp V10 petrol engine that will propel me to about 200mph'. It's called the M5 and you can have one for £61,755.
So it comes down to the individual in the end. Ones like the Floridian I witnessed last week, driving a colossal motorhome south on Route 1. He was towing another vehicle to use as a runabout once he parked up at the next trailer site. It was a Hummer.
Is the future green? Maybe, but it's as much about what you choose to park in your driveway as it is about what car makers can magic up with technology. As individuals, that's going to be the hardest choice to make, and one which will test our commitment to a better world.
I'd love to leave you now, perched righteously as I am on the high moral ground. But I can't because if I had £61,755 there'd be an M5 in my driveway. Sorry, but it's true.
