The avid readers among you will remember a few weeks ago I tested the new Hyundai Ionic and I found that to be very good. More recently I’ve been driving around in the Nissan Leaf with a bigger battery and some new equipment.
Later in the year, I’ll be driving the new Toyota Prius plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) and there’s another version of the Volkswagen Golf electric (e-Golf) on the way.
Mercedes Ireland has just announced a kind of rebate scheme where you can trade in your old dirty diesel for a new, cleaner version.
You see a trend forming, right?
There will be more announcements about diesel and Co2 emissions this year as car companies have copped on that diesel isn’t clean at all, in fact at low speeds a diesel car fires out soot and many other particles that can cause great harm to the environment but more importantly, your health.
This wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if there weren’t so many diesel powered cars on the road in Ireland. Right now there’s well over 90% of all the traffic is running diesel engines and while that is starting to fall there’s still a strong demand for diesel cars in Laois mostly driven by the lack of employment in the larger towns so we have to travel to work.
This leaves the midlands with a bit of a conundrum because electric cars are just on the brink of being able to drive much further and the current range is around the 280kms we are stuck.
For some this kind of range is perfect, I already see a number of Nissan Leafs and Hyundai Ionics whizzing around the streets of Portlaoise but it’s not enough.
The big guns of the car world really need to get involved. For instance, where’s Ford’s EV car or why hasn’t Volkswagen really pushed the E-Golf? The answer to those questions lies in the marketing and sales departments.
They are waiting for the case to be proven for electric cars before they really put a push on it. We’ll have to see a rise in demand for cleaner cars instead of looking for a car with low tax.
Electric cars have the lowest tax. Currently, the fuel is free if you charge on the streets. There really isn’t that much servicing as there’s no combustion in the engine although, there is a number of standard items like tyres, wipers, lights and so on. So there’s a decent case for saving a shed load of money by going electric.
Right now we are still in a kind of limbo with a number of car makers supporting the eco-friendly driver. There are also makers like Toyota who’ve been pushing hybrid cars for years which is the best bridge between unlimited power and fully electric.
There’s no doubt that there’s a change happening but how fast that happens is up to you.
SEE ALSO – Bob Flavin: Ford raise the bar for the small car world
SEE ALSO – Bob Flavin: The future is an electric one
