Car manufacturers to get new targets that will cut driving costs

Moustaches in the driving seat: Siim Kallas, Vice President of the EC in charge of Transport (left), and Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, at yesterday's CARS 21 group meeting.

The European Commission is next month to propose tighter carbon emissions standards for new European cars with a 2020 target of 95gm CO2 per kilometre, that will cut costs for motorists by 25%.

But the Commission has not decided whether to make the target binding, and there are calls for the target to be even stiffer in order to save drivers even more on fuel costs.

Currently, manufacturers have to reach a binding target of 130gm CO2/km by 2015, which they are on target to attain. Fines for failure are presently €95 for every gram over the target per vehicle and these would be kept at the same level in the future.

Long-term carbon dioxide emission standards for new passenger cars, for 2025 and 2030, are also envisaged by the Commission. These would be set by the end of 2014 at the latest.

The new limits would cut fuel consumption in cars and vans by up to a quarter and save European citizens an estimated 25 billion euros ($31.2 billion) per year, as we reported last month. The estimated fuel savings from implementing the 2020 target would more than compensate for the expected cost of compliance.

The average motorist would save around €500 per year on fuel from the 95 gram 2020 target, based on a driving distance of 20,000 km per year and a fuel cost of 1.4 euros per litre.

Greg Archer, programme manager at the Transport and Environment campaign group, welcomed the news, but said that drivers should be helped to save even more. "Drivers have been short-changed," he said. “A 2020 target of 80g CO2/km is perfectly attainable."

The European Commission is currently assessing the feasibility of a 70gm CO2/km target by 2025.

In an interview in Der Spiegel people last December, Guenther Oettinger said "German automakers will have to fight hard [to meet the new emissions targets], but they will meet them".

But they will not have to fight that hard, being already well on the way towards meeting the 2015 target. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT)'s report on new car CO2 emissions, last year average emissions had fallen to 138.1g/km, down 4.2% on 2010 and 23.7% below the 2000 average.

Low emission cars are gaining market share

Lower emission, cheaper to run cars are also becoming more popular. In 2011, registrations of alternatively-fuelled vehicles rose by 11.3% to over 25,000 units, and accounted for a record 1.3% share of the total market. All market segments reported a further decline in CO2 emissions in 2011, highlighting the broad nature of the total market shift to more efficient cars.

The SMMT says that the continuing challenging economic situation has increased consumer awareness and the desire to reduce running costs by purchasing lower CO2-emitting cars.

While the UK has to comply with emissions standards set at the EU level, it has also introduced its own complementary policies to incentivise the uptake of low-carbon vehicles. These include a plug-in car grant scheme, a fund of over £300 million, which offers motorists up to £5,000 for the purchase of cars with tailpipe emissions of 75g CO2/km or less. A similar grant has been created to encourage the purchase of ultra-low emissions vans. However, take-up of this has been low so far.

British consumers and businesses also benefit from a favourable tax regime, with plug-in vehicles receiving Vehicle Excise Duty and Company Car Tax exemptions, as well as Enhanced Capital Allowances.

Furthermore, the Plugged-In Places programme has made £30m available to match-fund eight pilot projects installing and trialing recharging infrastructure in the UK to support the Carbon Plan commitment to install up to 8,500 charge points.

Support for the automotive industry

Although in the UK, the auto market is doing surprisingly well given the recession, the story is not the same across the whole of Europe, where altogether it supports 12 million jobs, a €92 billion trade balance, and receives €30 billion investment in R&D.

So yesterday the European Commission announced a series of actions to support the industry, with a proposed action plan that will include providing EU financing for research, in particular to help the sector adapt to the technologies of tomorrow, through reinforcing European Investment Bank lending.

It will also help to manage business costs by applying smart regulation, and improve exports through trade negotiations and work on global regulatory and procedural convergence with the ultimate aim of achieving the approval of a worldwide car type. This would mean that any car produced in the world can be marketed in every country of the world.

Also yesterday, members of the CARS 21 High Level Group, which consists of ministers and senior industry representatives, met for the final time and approved a report which sets out a complete vision for the automotive industry in 2020.

It calls for, amongst other things, support for the development of "a portfolio of propulsion technologies, dominated by advanced combustion engine technology, that would be increasingly electrified. In addition, the deployment of vehicles with alternative powertrain concepts (such as electric and fuel cell vehicles)".

Parallel to this they also called for "appropriate refilling and recharging infrastructure for alternative fuel vehicles" to be built up, "in line with their market potential".

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "The automotive industry needs to be in good shape first in order to realise this vision. We therefore need to act now and decisively in order to counter current economic difficulties by mobilising financing for research, carefully evaluating any new regulation and supporting the expansion on third markets”.

The future for low emission vehicles

This is still largely driven by European legislation, although high fuel prices and concerns about climate change are playing a large part, especially outside of Europe.

Under the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive, fuel suppliers are required to source 10% of their transport fuel from renewable sources (although this policy has been met with controversy due to concerns over unsustainable biofuel cultivation).

One in four business leaders have already making use of, or are considering introducing, alternative fuel vehicles to their business operations, partly as a response to oil prices remaining stubbornly high, according to a report last month from Grant Thornton. This finds that 24% of businesses globally are looking to alternative fuel vehicles, such as electric cars, hybrids, LPG and fuel cell cars, to help mitigate rising transport costs.

The survey covered 12,000 businesses per year across 40 economies, finding also that the price of oil prices was the leading cause driving business owners to consider alternative fuel vehicles, for 69% of survey respondents globally.

The drive towards clean alternatives is being largely steered by mature markets, with 28% of businesses in the G7 at least considering adopting such vehicles, compared to just 15% in the BRIC economies.

55% of businesses cited tax relief and 62% cost management as key motivators for switching to low emission vehicles. Businesses are also increasingly aware of the environmental impact of their fleets with 58% citing saving the planet as a driver towards the adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Amongst those who have not considered alternative fuel vehicles, cost (49%) emerges as the greatest constraint, closely followed by the difficulty of charging/refuelling (48%) and a lack of choice (38%).

The trend toward alternative fuels is also visible in global sales of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which are projected to reach 5.4 million vehicles by 2021 (more than 6% of the automotive market).

But a recent KPMG report found that electrified vehicles will not exceed 15% of annual global new car registrations before 2025, because of cost and lack of charging infrastructure; for the immediate future, hybrids will continue to be more popular than pure battery-powered cars.

Over time, fuel cell vehicles are seen as a more promising prospect than battery-electrified cars, especially in the BRICs countries. They find that 9–14 million new electric vehicles will be registered in TRIAD and BRIC markets by 2026.

Electric racer unveiled that's as fast as Formula 1

A demonstration all-electric car that's as fast as a Formula 1 racer was showcased at yesterday's MIA Low Carbon Racing Conference at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC).

The Lola-Drayson B12/69EV project pioneer was shown to Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Green by its co-developer Lord Paul Drayson, the former Minister of Science and Innovation, both of whom were speaking at the conference.

Lord Drayson hopes the car will enter the first FIA Formula E contest for EVs, which begins in 2013.

He said, "It uses the latest battery technology and aerodynamics to maximise power to 850 peak horsepower.

″We've been working with Lola on the aerodynamics. The surface of the car changes as you approach higher speeds," he explained. "You reduce or lower the wings when going down the straights for example."

Motorsport is being used more and more as a way of trialing and developing low carbon vehicle technologies, such as hybrids, alternative fuels, batteries, sustainable and intelligent materials.

"Electric racing cars change perceptions and make people want a road car," continued Lord Drayson. "They also develop the technology later used in road cars, such as better batteries.

"This car uses wireless charging. That's something which is sure to come to road cars in the not-too-distant future.

"We want to encourage the mainstream manufacturers to participate in this. These cars will have torque-steer, and torque-steer is very relevant to road-car technology," he said.

Revolutionary flywheels

Also on show at the event, which continues all week, is the Flybrid flywheel, which won the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership 2011 Award for Low Carbon Innovation by an SME last November, given to the company providing "the most promising technology that can reduce vehicle carbon emissions by any means".

The revolutionary flywheel is connected to a vehicle's transmission so that when the ratio is changed to speed up, the flywheel stores energy, and when the ratio is changed to slow down that energy is then recovered.

This is another technology, already used in Formula 1, which will spin off into road use.

Although not new in principle, Flybrid's innovations, for which it has several patents, let the flywheel rotate at over 60,000rpm, making it much smaller and lighter than has previously been possible, and with insignificant gyroscopic forces.

With a design life of 250,000km, the technology greatly extends battery life.

Also involved is the Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre (SVEC) at Oxford Brookes University, which is researching lighter materials, design issues and drivetrain concepts.

The Lola-Drayson partnership

Lord Drayson and Lola’s Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane, first dreamed up their project at the Autosport show two years ago.

Lola specialise in lightweight structures for the aerospace, defense, renewable and automotive sectors, and Drayson Racing has been involved in green racing since 2007, experimenting with biofuels and carbon capture.

Their car is an electric ultra high-performance vehicle based upon the current Lola LMP1 chassis.

Lola is responsible for all aspects of the chassis and aerodynamics of the car and Drayson Racing Technologies is responsible for all aspects of the drive-train and systems integration.

It functions as a technology demonstration platform for the novel technologies being developed by the project consortium, and is designed to break the lap records for electric vehicles at street, circuit and hill climb tracks around the world and show the speed potential of an EV, lapping circuits faster than a current LMP1 diesel.

High-performance electric motor cooling is another issue being tackled.

"The shape of the car is very different," Lord Drayson said. "That's because the regulations in Formula E are completely open on aerodynamics, so therefore you start with a clean sheet of paper.

"It's going to be central cockpit, a cross between a single-seater and a Le Mans car, a real emphasis on reducing drag because of the importance of low-drag - not so much downforce as you'd see on a single-seater car, but active aerodynamic surfaces to give you sufficient downforce.

"It looks great, but it looks like nothing else."

How the car works

The Lola LMP is designed and engineered by a team from Lola, Drayson, BAE Systems, Halo IPT, A123, Mavizen, YASA Motors, Rhinehart, Cosworth and Multimatic.

It will be powered by electricity stored in a new generation of highly advanced Lithium Nanophosphate® battery cells made by A123 Systems, used for the first time on the Lola-Drayson racing car.

The battery cells are housed in a pack manufactured by Mavizen and drive the four axial flux Oxford YASA motors via inverters supplied by Rhinehart.

Battery charging will happen through a HaloIPT wireless induction system which will utilise coils within the floor of the car which will enable recharging by the car parking over a recharging pad.

The motors generating over 850 peak horsepower will power the rear wheels only, producing more power than the petrol equivalent.

The actual motors will be mounted in a similar place to where there the existing powerplant is located. These will be fitted to the driveshafts and the wheels will be driven in a very similar way to how they are now.

The car will not change gears, but has a single reduction gear linking the drive from the electric motors to the driveshafts.

It will weigh in at about 1000 kg, slightly over the regular 900kgs in LMP1 presently.

The control system is supplied by Drayson Racing Technologies with Cosworth, who supplied the original system for the 2010 LMP1 car.

In addition to the completely new electric drivetrain, the car will benefit from new aerodynamic features being developed by Lola in conjunction with BAE Systems and a new recycled carbon fibre technology.

The Formula E championship

The deadline for expressions of interest in Formula E is in five days' time.

Formula E has an almost open rulebook, with the main stipulation being a maximum battery weight of 300kg.

Given that electric cars are silent, in great contrast to the rip-roaring noises everyone associates with Formula 1, the FIA say that they will give "particular attention" to "the sound signature and design of the cars" proposed by those tendering.

A decision will be made at the World Motorsport Council meeting on March 9 and, in the event of a favourable decision, the Lola-Drayson car will be ready for testing soon after, with Formula E starting in 2013.

Drayson believes EVs have the potential to revolutionise racing. "It's natural when a new technology comes that people think it isn't going to be as good as what they know, and that's why we're doing this. When people see it, they will be amazed," he said.

The cars will be on show at Autosport International 2012, from Thursday 12th to Sunday, 15th January.

Eco-projects for electric vehicles and smart grid launched

A smart grid for the Isle of Wight and cable-free electric car charging stations, two important rehearsals for the UK's low carbon revolution, are being launched.

Electric cars

In London, the UK's first Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) trial, backed by David Cameron and Boris Johnson, is expected to start in early 2012 and will involve up to 50 electric vehicles (EVs).

The technology employs Qualcomm's wireless inductive power transfer that enables high-efficiency charging across a large air gap - although it doesn't say what losses are incurrec by using this method as opposed to plugging in.

It makes charging an electric car at home or in an organisation's parking space a breeze. The driver simply parks the vehicle in the usual way and the system automatically aligns for power transfer, making parking easier and charging hassle free.

The trial will be based partially in Tech City, the East London cluster, and companies such as vehicle manufacturers are being invited to participate by registering their interest at www.qualcomm.com/wireless-ev-charging.

Prime Minister David Cameron called it “a giant leap forward for the electric car industry", saying he is "delighted that London businesses will be among the first to benefit".

"Creative, high-tech advances such as this are extremely important as we work to rebalance our economy," he added, "and the decision to trial this at Tech City shows confidence in the UK as an ideal place for innovation and investment.”

Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for Transport, commented that the trial is "a great example of how vehicle recharging could work in the future".

The project supplements the £30 million Government fund from the Technology Strategy Board and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles to kick-start installation of recharging points in eight areas across the country.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said he wants London to be “the electric car epicentre of Europe".

"We are already on this path with Transport for London delivering a citywide charging network,” he added.

Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm said, “Wireless charging eradicates the EV plug-in cable and makes charging of electric vehicles simple and easy for drivers”.

A Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging steering committee, containing representatives from TfL, the Mayor’s office and central government will be set up to oversee the trial.

Incidentally, a fascinating new film, called Revenge of the Electric car, is being premiered this month, telling the tale of the fightback of electric car enthusiasts against the oil industry which tried to kill the idea.

It shows Tesla CEO Elon Musk putting his personal fortune on the line, Bob Lutz, GM's Vice Chair, staking the GM brand on the very technology it once tried to destroy, Nissan's CEO, Carlos Ghosn, backing a car almost no one believed could happen, and an ordinary enthuisiast who proves you can convert a car yourself.

Welcome to EcoIsland

Meanwhile, an entire British island is launching its bid to become self-sustaining in energy, water and waste treatment.

The Isle of Wight’s EcoIsland project is the largest single sustainability project in the UK.

On 15 November, next week, The Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Oliver Letwin will help to kickstart the EcoIsland Partnership Community Interest Company (CIC), which will establish a Global Innovation Centre for Smart Grid technology to connect every building on the island to renewable energy generators.

Working with Global Partners IBM and Toshiba, it plans to join up both the current and future wind, tidal, geothermal and solar power generators on the island.

The Smart Grid initiative is a crucial part of the Isle of Wight’s aim to become the first truly sustainable region of the UK.

It also expects residents' fuel bills to reduce by up to 50%.

David Green, the CIC's CEO said: “The Isle of Wight community needs to act quickly to avert the possibility of black-outs from increased demands on the UK's electricity generation capacity.

"We are looking to use the Island’s natural resources to make it self sufficient in terms of energy, food, water, fuel and waste, enabling the community to take its destiny back into its own hands”.

Since February 2011 EcoIsland has raised the first tranche of the £200m private funding that is required to achieve its goals, and set up partnership agreements with Cable & Wireless; Scottish & Southern Electric (SSE), as Distribution Network Operator and energy supplier; ITM Power, providing energy storage and clean fuel production in the form of hydrogen for commercial and private vehicles, and Southern Water, which also aims to have a zero energy footprint through the development of renewable energy.

It has already spent £25m installing photovoltaic modules and 500 air-source heat pumps on 3,500 social houses and pioneered the use of a 'Greenback' discount card backed by 65 local companies, which helps its 142,000 residents save up to £400/yr.

By 2020 it wants the island to become a net exporter of energy and to have created hundreds of green tech jobs, as well as cutting the amount of waste it sends to landfill to zero and to stop exporting its waste off the island, in order to take full responsibility for all of its residents' needs.

Cars are slowly getting greener and cheaper, despite manufacturers' claims

Average CO2 emissions from cars have now dropped to 140g CO2/km, and prices have fallen in real terms, with Fiat, Toyota and Peugeot-Citroen leading the pack with Europe’s cleanest fleets, and Volvo managing the largest cuts in CO2 on average in 2010 (9%).

All in all, the average car sold in Europe last year was 4% more fuel efficient, emitted 4% less CO2, and yet was 2.5% cheaper in real terms than the year before.

The news comes in the sixth report of T&E – European Federation for Transport and Environment - on the annual progress Europe’s major car manufacturers have made in reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of new cars.

It criticises Honda and Mazda's new cars for actually having increased emissions. Daimler has the worst average CO2 emissions of major manufacturers, followed by Volvo – despite its efforts to improve.

The price falls and average performance improvements are contrary to earlier claims by manufacturers that costs would increase if they had to comply with EU legislation to reduce emissions.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), which represents car-makers such as BMW, Daimler, Fiat, Ford and General Motors, had previously warned that being forced to meet an EU target of 130g CO2/km by 2012 would "lead to a price increase per car of up to €3,000 on average", causing European job losses, and the relocation of car plants outside the EU.

Jos Dings, director of Transport & Environment commented: “The car industry has consistently resisted fuel efficiency regulations by complaining that cars would become ‘unaffordable’. But car emissions have now dropped to 140g CO2/km and that simply hasn’t happened; prices have actually fallen in real terms.”

European car manufacturers are opening factories outside the EU, to some extent, with Volkswagen being the latest one to locate a plant in China. It will join Nissan, Daimler and other carmakers, by producing its Tantus model in Shanghai, but the market for the vehicles is said to be largely within China itself.

The venture does not necessarily mean jobs being lost in the EU, and it could even be cited as evidence that EU encouragement to manufacturers to improve environmental performance helps with their export potential and competitiveness.

The improvements in emission reductions follow a trend, from an average of 196g CO2/km in 1997 to 174g CO2/km in 2008, according to another report, Energy use and CO2 emissions, published this summer by the UK's Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM).

And the fall in real terms of prices of fuel-efficient cars looks set to continue.

According to a recent study for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP), the total cost of owning an electric or hydrogen vehicle is likely to approach those of conventional cars within 15-20 years.

EU targets for vehicle emissions

The EU is currently committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80-95% by 2050, compared with their level in 1990, which will be quite a task since latest figures from the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) and other sources show global carbon dioxide emissions have increased by a worrying 45% since 1990.

In order to achieve the planned reduction at the lowest cost, the EU's Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 estimates that transport-sector emissions should be cut by 50-70% by 2050.

Current targets, set in 2009, are that from the beginning of 2012, emissions from new cars should not exceed 130g CO2/km and 120g CO2/km by 2015. There is a tentative target for 2020 of 95g CO2/km, to be confirmed in 2013, following the new consultation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transport by the EC's Directorate-General for Climate Action.

The online questionnaire, which individuals and organisations can answer until 9 December, solicits opinions on Heavy Duty Vehicles and whether there should be regulations set now for after 2020.

One criticism of current regulations is that cars are classed by weight, rather than overall performance. A consequence of this is that in Germany, a new labelling scheme gives small efficient models such as the Smart and Fiat Panda a ‘D’ category, while the Audi Q7, a large SUV, gets a green ‘B’ rating.

While carbon dioxide emissions from other sectors in the EU are generally falling, those from road transport have continued to increase since 1990 and now form about a fifth of the EU's total.

The IAM research says that cars generate 14% of all CO2 emissions in the UK, compared to 10% globally.

But we can get too obsessed with small differences in the efficiency of vehicles, when other factors also contribute to emissions.

As IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig says, it's "driving style that is crucial - the best fuel-saver is a light right foot and anticipation of the road ahead.”

The benefits of electric vehicles

This applies to EVs - electric vehicles - just as much as conventional ones. The range of one of these can be increased by an average 20% using the right technique, according the the Energy Saving Trust's Smarter Driving pilot programme.

The Energy Saving Trust has published a new video guide - Living with an electric car - about the benefits and limitations of owning a vehicle like the Nissan Leaf.

Presented by Robert Llewellyn of Red Dwarf and Scrapheap Challenge fame, it looks at charging, range and especially the cost savings from going electric.

It says that driving a small family hatchback with an efficient diesel engine would cost about £4,200 +VAT in diesel at current fuel costs to drive 10,000 miles per year for 4 years.

But a similar sized electric car would cost around £960+VAT at current electricity prices; assuming half of the electricity is provided through an “economy 7” or a similar tariff.

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and parking and access charges are also cheaper.

Auto-makers vie to wow public with the coolest eco-cars

It's back to the future with the coolest electric cars at the Frankfurt Car Show, which is showcasing a fleet of revolutionary, green, efficient, and quiet vehicles – as virtually every automaker is pushing out a low-carbon model or three to fit every type of market.

The first cars were electric. A hundred years ago a bus company in America ran intercity services, lifting spent batteries out and replacing them with charged ones in double quick time at depots at each terminus.

Internal combustion engines took over because they were easier to use and because of the independence they gave their owners. Now, it's back to the future, as personal mobility is the key.

Electric two-wheeled vehicles actually outsell cars in some cities, for example in China. And in Europe, sales of electric motorcycles and scooters outstrip electric cars.

And although petrol heads (should we start calling them 'battery-heads'?) want to know which is the fastest electric car (try the Tesla Roadster - 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds with 288bhp), the latest Frankfurt Car Show showcases 'green' vehicles of every type - all in a Hall to themselves for the first time.

Germans are flocking to see them – not least because their country has a goal of one million electric vehicles on the road by 2020.

The Tesla is being followed up soon with a 'Model S' 7-seater with a range of 300 miles on a single charge. But, since the vast majority of journeys are short, it's not range but low running costs that are going to persuade more and more people to shell out the extra £1000s for an electric or hybrid model.

City-based two-seaters are emerging along the lines of the successful Smart car, such as Audi's futuristically-shaped Urban Concept electric car. This gets to 37mph in six seconds, with a top speed of 65mph, and is half the weight of your average city car due to its carbon fibre, plastic and aluminium body.

Smart is not resting on its laurels and is launching the Forvision, which promises to increase range by 20% and has PV cells powering low-energy light-emitting diodes, infrared reflective films and high performance insulating foams.

Volkswagen - currently resisting a Greenpeace campaign to get them to make more low-carbon vehicles - is responding with a low-cost single-seater called NILS with a top speed of 80mph and a range of 40 miles.

Vauxhall is also launching a two-seater called the RAK e which it says has a 60 mile range and reaches a top speed of 75mph. It does 0-60mph in under 13 seconds and weighs just 380kg.

Renault, already turning out four electric cars – the Fluence, Kangoo EV, Twizy and Zoe – is launching a fifth, called the Frendzy (who thinks up these names?), at Frankfurt. This half-van, half-car obtains 59bhp using a lithium-ion battery pack and has a side with doors and side windows for the family to climb in; and on the other side a sliding door with an integrated 37-inch widescreen display at the rear, which can display work messages or advertising, linked to a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer.

In van mode it can store 2250-litres of cargo of many shapes due to a flexible fabric roof, or morph into a family car with seats folding out of the floor and the colour scheme changing.

BMW has two models on show - the i3, a small, electric, city-style 4-seater, and the i8, a fast, electric-petrol hybrid that features in the next Mission Impossible film starring Tom Cruise. Both will leave the production lines in 2013.

They, like other modern cars, are being built using light-weight carbon fibre composite material borrowed from space vehicles.

Forced by legislation to improve their efficiency in terms of miles per unit of fuel, making their cars weigh less is one way that manufacturers are meeting these targets.

The 3-litre barrier

Over its whole range, the German auto-maker has cut its 2006 average of 186 grams of CO2 per km to 148 grams by 2010. Other tricks to achieve this 20% improvement include changes to the engine, aerodynamics, components, a new stop-start button, turbo air vent control and regenerative braking.

Its goal is to break the '3 litre' barrier - travel 100km on 3 litres of fuel. It's almost there: its 2012 116d model with 116 PS needs 3.8 litres per 100 km and emits 99 grams of CO2, a big improvement on its 2011 model with 4.5 litres and 118 grams.

Turbo-chargers increase the air entering engines, which Alex Ismail, CEO of Honeywell Transportation Systems, says can boost fuel economy by 20% for petrol cars and an incredible 40% for diesel.

He says that this technology is going to mean fossil-fuel cars will be around for a long time yet, as it will help manufacturers meet the ever-tougher emissions-regulations that legislators around the world are setting.

"Despite the buzz around electric vehicles, it's clear that automakers are looking primarily at turbo charged engines to help quickly green their fleets and meet the regulatory targets," he says.

Globally, vehicles are responsible for about 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Hybrids proliferate

More and more electric-petrol hybrids are set to hit the roads, hot on the exhaust trail of the Chevrolet Volt, which emerged in 2010. Toyota has a Prius-based plug-in hybrid scheduled for 2012 and Ford's C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid follows in 2013, with other models due from Daimler and BMW.

In fact Toyota is extending the Prius brand into a family, with a seven-seater too, known as the Prius+. The plug-in version is claimed to have CO2 emissions as low as 49g/km.

For the top-end American family market, Henrik Fiskar is launching an incredibly sleek hybrid 5-seater, due for production in 2013, that can do 300 miles, with 981 lb-ft of torque, and acceleration of 5.9 seconds to 60 mph, with a top speed of 125 mph.

Even Jaguar is going green, with a two-seat hybrid known as the C-X16 Concept that uses a Formula 1 style hybrid boost which lets it do 0-62mph in a blistering 4.4seconds, reach a top speed of 186mph, on a CO2 emission rating of just 165g/km.

Ford is not to be out-done and is touting a 4-seat fastback with a plug-in hybrid called the EVOS Concept, which is taking connectivity to the next stage on the way to the car we saw Tom Cruise driving in Minority Report. It includes a cloud-computing-optimised powertrain that knows when to save energy and switch modes, based on the predicted travel route, weather conditions and emission zone restrictions.

One thing is sure – manufacturers are falling over themselves to make these next generation low-carbon vehicles seem cool, and that is a sure-fire way to capturing the public's imagination.

World's first national electric vehicle charging network launched

Ecotricity and Welcome Break have today launched the first of a national network of free electric car charging points situated at motorway services and powered by the renewable electricity company's wind turbines.

Dubbed the Electric Highway, the network will, when completed in three months, allow EV drivers to travel from Exeter to Edinburgh via London without fear of running out of juice.

Further connections are planned for the next 18 months.

Both businesses expect to benefit from a unique synergy, where Welcome Break sees an opportunity to attract more custom to its motorway service stations, and Ecotricity is keen to find new markets in an emerging and potentially huge area.

Together, they hope to open up low-carbon transport routes to the whole of the UK - not just within cities.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity's founder, said: “Until now, charging posts have all been in city centres like London, but statistics show that it’s not in towns and cities where electric cars need to recharge, but on longer journeys between cities – and that means motorways."

The first ‘top-up zone’ is being installed this month at Welcome Break’s South Mimms services (at the Junction of the M1 and M25), and the first phase of the network spread across 12 motorway services will be completed by September.

Each post will be located outside the main entrance, with two sockets that can be accessed by registering for a free swipecard at the website ecotricity.co.uk/onthemove.

Within 18 months all 27 Welcome Break motorway services will have charging points.

The partnership claims that electric cars will be able to top-up in just 20 minutes using rapid recharge points (32A supply) or fully charge in two hours; while those using the slower (13A supply) will be able to recharge fully if staying overnight in adjoining hotels.

“We’re creating the infrastructure to get Britain’s electric car revolution moving," added Vince. "This marks the beginning of the end for the old combustion engine. With world oil prices going through the roof, you’ll now be able to get around Britain using only the power of the wind. It costs 1p a mile in an electric vehicle, compared with 10p in a petrol car (at today’s oil prices)."

A driver travelling a year’s typical 12,000 miles could save almost £2000 in petrol costs at today’s prices, and around 2500kg in CO2 emissions.

Rod McKie, CEO of Welcome Break, spoke of his excitement at the project, and affirmed that the company "wants to be at the forefront" of the coming change in motoring habits: "as hybrid and electric cars become part of everyday life, Welcome Break will have the facility to fast-charge these cars, giving electric car drivers the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of the UK".

Ecotricity has also installed a charging post at its windmill next to the M4 motorway in Reading. It is the first charging post to be powered directly from a wind turbine.

Video production: Tim Walter Associates

In November 2010, Ecotricity launched the Nemesis, a wind-powered sports car that can reach 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds and with a top speed of 170mph. The first electric "supercar" to be designed and built in Britain, the Nemesis was created by an A-team of ex-Formula 1 engineers with the brief to “blow the socks off Jeremy Clarkson” and show that electric cars can be sexy, fast and fun to drive.

It will be the first electric car to drive from Land’s End to John O’ Groats this summer.

This year, major manufacturers are launching all-electric mass-market models including the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MIEV and Peugeot iOn. Ford will also launch an all-electric version of its Ford Focus, on sale in 2013.

Could wind power replace the combustion engine?

Dale Vince, long an evangelist for renewable electricity, asserts that "with 10,000 of today’s wind turbines, or just 5,000 of tomorrow’s” we could replace all of the "25 million barrels of oil" that we consume in the UK to travel "the 250 billion miles we drive every year."

His company has calculated that if all 30 million vehicles on the roads were replaced by EVs, which typically do 5,000 miles on one MWh of electricity, then the UK would need 13% - or 50TWh - more electricity to power those journeys than is currently generated.

Total UK grid demand was 378TWh in 2009, and a 13% increase in output is equal to just four years of annual demand growth, and to the output from 10,000 wind turbines (assuming their current design) - which would save 69 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

However, as most EV charging is expected to happen overnight, when grid demand is traditionally lowest, this may not translate directly to a corresponding 13% increase in capacity.

But the revolution, if it is to happen, will take around a decade. There are currently only about 2,000 pure electric vehicles in the UK; on top of that there are a few hundred plug-in electric hybrids.

The 30,000 petrol hybrids on the roads that have a battery fitted cannot plug them into a socket; their charge either comes from the petrol engine or from energy stored during braking.

There are now around 400 charging points in cities around the UK, most of which - around 250 - are in London. But most charging is expected to happen overnight at home, with some to be offered at the workplace.

Dale Vince founded Ecotricity 15 years ago. A ‘not for dividend’ company with no shareholders, it now powers 50,000 homes and businesses in the UK from its fleet of 52 wind turbines, and invests more per capita in building new sources of green energy than any other UK electricity company. It is the only energy supplier supported by Oxfam and the Soil Association.

Welcome Break's 27 service areas house the firm's own brands alongside high-street names such as Burger King, KFC, WHSmith and Days Inn. Recently Waitrose and Starbucks have also been added.

A network of public charging stations for electric vehicles has been installed across Portugal by Oracle and Portuguese not-for-profit company Inteli, as the transport industry gears up for anticipated public enthusiasm for electric cars across the world.

Meanwhile, in the UK, buyers of low carbon vehicles, can get £5000 towards their cost, and trials are proceeding apace on various types of Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles.

But how efficient are they really? Do drivers like them? And will they take off in a big way?

The Portuguese charge up

The Portuguese project, known as MOBI.E, will help Portugal increase its use of renewable energy and become less reliant on fossil fuels. It has seen 1,300 slow charging stations and 50 fast charging stations built as part of the government’s MOBI-E vehicle electrification project.

Portugal already produces 43% of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind and hydropower, so by encouraging drivers to switch to electricity the country will grow even less reliant on fossil fuels and in turn, reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The country will also host one of Renault-Nissan’s battery plants, which will support the rollout of electric vehicles across Europe.

The MOBI-E platform incorporates Oracle's Customer Care and Billing service, enabling monthly flat rate and time-of-day rating of electricity consumption, network usage and/or additional charging such as parking, roaming between Electric Vehicle (EV) operators and energy retailers.

The power equipment, charging infrastructure and Energy Management Software are all integrated with Oracle software.

“Portugal is leading the charge in making an electric vehicle future a reality,” said Bastian Fischer, Vice President, Oracle Utilities, EMEA. "With motor vehicles being a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions and with an estimated 800 million motor vehicles on the road worldwide, e-mobility solutions are crucial if we are to meet the European Union’s 20-20-20 targets – to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020. We look forward to introducing similar models in other countries."

Charging in the UK

UK advisory group the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) predicts there will be a million non-fossil fuel vehicles on UK roads by 2020. This means more vehicles powered by alternative fuels such as biodiesel, biogas, hydrogen, fuel cells, electricity.

Last month, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond launched the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) vision for developing the UK’s recharging infrastructure.

The report, ‘Making the Connection: the Plug-In Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy’ maps out the route that Government - as part of its £400m programme to support ultra-low emission vehicles - and industry, will take to support the development of infrastructure that is targeted, convenient and safe.

It's expected that most recharging will be done at home, at night, encouraged by cheap tariffs that use a significant proportion of nuclear and wind power, supplemented by charging at the workplace by commuters and fleets, and ‘a targeted amount of public infrastructure’.

There are now ten vehicles eligible for the Plug-in Car Grant, worth up to £5,000 for buyers of a pure electric or plug-in hybrid car.

Philip Hammond said: “The ability to recharge is a key part of the jigsaw in supporting the growth of the electric vehicle market. It is crucial, therefore, that we make the process as simple as possible.

“Public chargepoints are part of the answer, but putting a chargepoint on every corner is not the right approach. It is most convenient for drivers and best for the energy system for the majority of charging to happen at home.

“Electric cars mean getting out of the mentality of needing to travel to a petrol station and into the habit of refuelling when a vehicle is not being used."

It could mean, then, that in the future there will be fewer petrol stations, and that those remaining will offer a greater variety of fuels and services.

How efficient are they?

A recent trial, run by the motoring organisation RAC - the Future Car Challenge - compared the fuel consumption of three types of vehicle: pure electric; hybrids, including plug-ins and hydrogen fuel cells; and internal combustion engines emitting no more than 110 gCO2/km and found electrics the cheapest to run.

Top came electric vehicles at 0.61MJ/km (megajoules per kilometre), followed by petrol vehicle at 0.91 MJ/km, hybrids, at 1.16 MJ/km, then the only hydrogen fuel cell vehicle at 1.23 MJ/km, and finally diesels at 1.74 MJ/km.

This makes electrics are twice as efficient as the fuel cell vehicle and almost three times more so than diesel.

If you were to translate the performance into miles per gallon (petrol equivalent) the results equate to 147 mpg for electric cars, 83 mpg for hybrids, 65 mpg for diesels, 95 mpg for the sole petrol car and 71 mpg for the hydrogen vehicle.

However, this figure, of course, doesn't take into account the efficiency losses from the point of generation of the electricity to the vehicle's battery, which the vehicle's driver doesn't see.

Looked at from this angle, petrol internal combustion engines used for this particular trial in this location are currently the most efficient, emitting 81 gCO2/km, then hybrids, emitting 103gCO2/km (grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre), closely followed by electric vehicles at 105gCO2/km, then hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with 112 gCO2/km, and lastly diesel internal combustion engines at 147 gCO2/km.

The figures are strongly affected by when charging takes place - there's more low carbon electricity in the mix at night.

They will also vary on a country-by-country basis, depending on the mix of generation.

The drive to develop low carbon vehicles is in anticipation of the future, by around 2020 and beyond, when the proportion of low carbon electricity on the grid will increase as more renewable and/or nuclear power replaces polluting coal and gas powered generation.

But would you want to drive an electric car?

The latest data, from a year long study 25 Mitsubishi i-MiEVs and 20 smart 'fortwo' electric drives, shows that initial scepticism about their capability was overcome by drivers who mainly only use their vehicles for urban transportation.

Most journeys undertaken (77%) lasted less than 20 minutes and only 2% used more than half of the battery's charge. This meant that in most cases a return journey could be made without needing to recharge.

After a while, drivers tended to make longer journeys as they grew more confidence and less worry about running out of charge.

Users didn't feel they had to recharge the battery every time it reached a particular point of depletion. Rather, they be charged it when convenient.

Most of the vehicles were parked for almost all the time - all put 23 hours and 10 min every day on average - so there was plenty of opportunity for them to be plugged in.

Brian Price from Aston University said the data showed that the battery range of electric vehicles more than covers most users’ needs, with most drivers finishing their daily journeys still with over 40% charge remaining. Typical users only need to recharge every 2-3 days and choose the convenience of a home charge overnight or at their place of work over 85% of the time.

Most people started charging when the battery had 81 - 87% of its charge remaining, which matched the fact that most journeys used only around 12% of the batteries charge.

The average charge time was between two and three hours, which costs about the same as a single laundry cycle - 60-80p on a conventional tariff. The smartest participants in the trial used timers to take advantage of off-peak tariffs during the night.

Head of E-Mobility R&D at E.ON Charles Bradshaw-Smith explains: “Meters installed at each user’s home are giving us invaluable information on charging behaviour. The most popular time to charge a vehicle is, rightly, overnight. But as most journeys are relatively short (with five average journeys per charge) this allows scope for exactly when the car is charged each night to minimise cost and maximise carbon savings.

“The ultimate goal is to allow drivers to take advantage of low cost power due to EVs both drawing and feeding into the grid to smooth demand peaks and save carbon."

The data comes from the largest of eight public trials taking part in The Technology Strategy Board’s £25m Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator programme's project CABLED.

Project Leader Neil Butcher from co-ordinating CABLED partner Arup, said: “It’s already clear that EVs offer a viable, practical urban transport solution. We must now consider how our homes, offices and public spaces will need to evolve in order to cater to both users’ needs and the rapidly developing technologies powering these vehicles.”

Mitsubishi Motors’ UK managing director, Lance Bradley is confident these vehicles will catch on quickly: "This clearly backs up our own experience and studies in Japan that people adapt very quickly to driving a pure-EV, such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

"To know that people complete up to five normal journeys per charge, and at such a low cost, underlines the fact that EVs are here to stay and can find mass-market appeal.

“Mitsubishi's new range of plug-in hybrid vehicles and our on-going development of pure-EVs will also help establish electric powertrains in the broader UK market, and go a long way to reducing automotive CO2 emissions."

“Public charging points provided as part of the trial are popular, but less necessary than originally thought," Brian Price added. "The trial has shown that the current generation of low carbon vehicles are as capable as conventional diesel and petrol engines for performance and ease of use, whilst having significantly lower emissions and operating costs.”

However, when you choose to buy a car, you want one that will suit all your purposes - long journeys across country as well as short runs.

Research is underway to develop lead-acid batteries that will charge in much, much shorter times, and to create country-wide networks of charging points.

Until then, unless drivers are confident that they can use one car for all purposes, it's not likely that ELVs will become mainstream.

Motoring organisation the AA recently said, however, that prices of EVs will have to come down before more people will buy them.

The Tories' mad energy policy

With the relief that EON decided not to build its coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth last week, it is with dismay that we also heard the Tories policy which is to initiate the building of 5 GW coal power stations as soon as they take office.

Labour may not be much good, but the Tories would be a disaster for energy policy. Railroading big business interests through planning to an even greater extent than Labour, under the pretext of environmentalism.

There's perhaps one good policy and that is the right for every community hosting wind farms to keep for 6 years the business rates generated.

It is the fact that local communities have felt ripped off by big developers not caring about their interests that has held back wind farms in this country.

But a real revolution would be for community owned wind farms to be massively supported as they have been in Denmark for many years, as a result of which there has not been the level of public antipathy towards wind farms that there has been here.

It is the stop-start nature of British energy policy under the NFFO policy that has created this antipathy because only the big developers could stay the field and community developers were squeezed out.

The other Tory policies are to give every household in the country £6,500 to upgrade the energy efficiency of homes; and publication of the planning guidance needed for new nuclear power stations.

The first is limited: some homes will cost more to upgrade than others, and the financial support should be in the form of loans that are paid back on the property from the energy savings created.

Housing authorities also need support to do a mass roll out of renovations of particular districts and streets at the same time which is more cost effective.

It is my argument that we can do without nuclear power because it is not cost efficient and the timescale is too great. The figures produced by the nuclear industry cannot be trusted. Taxpayers will end up supporting the industry to an extent that we can afford even less now than we could before.

"Clean coal" relies on carbon sequestration which is an unproven technology that will be incredibly expensive to implement.

EON gave as their reason for not going ahead with Kingsnorth a reduction in electricity demand. If electricity demand is further reduced by a mass roll-out of energy efficiency making everybody's bills cheaper (hooray!), then why would we need to build all these power stations anyway?

The catch 23 of electric cars

Ah - is it so that we can have an electric cars? But that's robbing Peter to pay Paul! - it's a more efficient use of fossil fuels to burn them directly in a car than it is to burn it in a power station and use the electricity to drive a car.

Why? The output from a coal-fired power station fitted with carbon sequestration is around 10% less in efficiency than one without - so you will only get 20-25% of the original energy in the fossil fuel from such a power station at the plug in your wall.

By the time you have factored in the conversion factors inside the engine of the car converting that electrical energy back into motor energy, you will be lucky to get 10%. Whereas around 50% off the energy in petrol or diesel goes straight into transmission.

The only way of implementing electric cars that makes any sense is if they are fuelled from renewable electricity generated locally to the charging point to minimise transmission losses. That means building more solar, tidal and wind.