Many people in the public eye, such as Gordon Brown and David Cameron have chosen to drive hybrid cars in a bid to show they care about the environment .
However tests now show that hybrid cars may not be as green as people are led to believe.
Consumer magazine Which? had their experts to test four of the most popular hybrid cars in comparison with self-charging electric motor generally used for town driving .
According to the manufacturers, electric cars cost up to 20 per cent more than petrol equivalents but are ideal for those who can’t stop driving but want to help improve the environment. For some of the cars a lower road tax is payable (£30 a year) and London’s congestion charge is not payable.
According to the test results, fuel consumption for the hybrid cars was not what the manufacturers claimed.
The engine kicks in during acceleration in a hybrid car while the electric motor took over, when the car is used for town driving, saving on fuel and reducing emissions.
The electric motor charges itself by recovering wasted energy while the car is moving.
George Marshall-Thornhill, senior researcher at Which? said, 'We didn't do a highly technical laboratory test, we simply drove them around on a mixture of roads in a normal way. Some of these should have performed much better.'
According to Which? the worst performers of the hybrid cars was the Lexus RX400, (similar to the £38,000 Lexus ordered by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party) which managed 25-34 mpg. This proved to be less efficient than an efficient diesel .
The Lexus’ carbon dioxide emissions were 27% less than petrol cars but the impact on the environment was no less than a Ford Mondeo estate using petrol. The conclusion was that the car was more for those conscious about how much tax is due.
According to Honda the Honda Civic hybrid costing £17,000 has an output of 61 mpg. However the tests showed it to be more in the region of 28–34 mpg which is less than the most fuel efficient petrol and diesel cars.
Mr Marshall-Thornhill said, 'The Honda was nice to drive but as a fuel-saving hybrid we're not sure the figures add up.'
The cheapest car test, the Citroen C3 Stop Start costing £11,500 was also a disappointment according to the experts.
The car isn’t classed as a hybrid but at an environmentally friendly car due to the petrol engine cutting out when the brake is applied and is in that mode until the driver accelerates again. The car’s output is 40 mpg compared to Citroen’s claim of 49 mpg, with a poor emissions record.
The best car for fuel consumption was the Toyota Prius costing £20,000, but this car too didn’t quite meet the manufacturer’s claims.
Toyota claim the car can complete 66 mpg but it averaged between 45 and 50 mpg. But the car produced 44 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than its petrol equivalent the Avensis.
Toyota’s spokesman said the mpg figures were produced by the vehicle certification agency and not themselves. He continued by saying, 'Which?'s figures would have been greatly influenced by the road conditions at the time of the tests.'
