July 19th, 2009

When it comes to buying new cars, a lot of people fall in to one of two groups – those who don’t particularly care about the car itself, and will be looking for the cheapest option or the least likely to break down, and petrol heads who want the fastest, sleekest, coolest car they can find. ‘Green’ cars, using alternative or adapted technologies to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, have never really fallen into either group. Sure, it’s a nice idea that you could help to save the planet by driving a different car, but when it comes to it, the majority of eco friendly cars don’t perform nearly as well as their petrol-powered counterparts, and they usually cost a lot more too.

But that may all be about to change. A heightened awareness of green issues and climate change combined with the general public’s need to find the cheapest cars to run in the recession means demand for more fuel efficient vehicles is rising. More and more people are beginning to realise that greener alternatives to petrol could well be the future of motoring, and the technology is developing and improving in leaps and bounds. The latest eco friendly vehicles were on display at the Revolve Eco Rally recently, driving en mass from Madeira Drive in Brighton to gather outside London’s City Hall. A whole host of celebrity guest drivers took part and they were met in London by Mayor Boris Johnson, who is a strong supporter of green transport and aims to cut London’s carbon emissions by 60%, for the What Car? Green Awards.

The purpose of the rally and the awards was to show what the latest developments in green cars are capable of, and vehicles received awards for a number of different reasons. The overall winner was the Volvo S40 DRIVe for combining its green credentials and supreme fuel efficiency with safety, security and being an all-round good small family car – it’s still not cheap though, and for around £50 more you can buy a Toyota Avensis, winner of the large family car category. Other winners were the Mini Cooper S, which won best green sports car for the second year running, and for those who still have cash to spare and can afford to buy an Audi the A8 was named best green luxury car. The innovative Tesla scooped the Editors Award for its battery-powered Roadster, for showing that electric cars can go the extra mile and performing well enough to please even the most picky of petrol-heads.

And the result of all this? Well it looks like green cars are the future after all. Sure it’s true that they are still somewhat more expensive than most, but it won’t be long before they won’t cost the earth, and it looks like when that time comes people will be queueing up to buy one.

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