Eco-friendly cars are here to stay. Drivers are increasingly taking to alternative fuels. More and more, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric cars and CNG-powered cars (compressed natural gas) are coming to replace vehicles powered by traditional fossil fuels. Which type of drive is best suited to you as a driver? Here is a run-down, listing all the benefits and drawbacks.
Ideal for shorter and medium-range distances
If you are keen to drive as good as 100% environmentally friendly, you automatically end up considering an electric car. Electric cars do not emit carbon dioxide, they are quiet, consume less fuel and are cheaper to maintain, as you no longer face the cost of having the engine serviced. And without a gear box, you use the motor’s full power, with the car smoothly accelerating from the very first second. Electric cars are either powered by a battery or by a hydrogen motor – i.e. by a fuel cell. Charging the battery costs less than filling up the car on diesel or petrol. Most models allow you to travel anywhere between 150 and 200 km without having to charge up at home or at a charging post. More luxury cars are also available that offer a travel range from 300 to 500 km.
The maximum speed is less than that of cars running on fossil fuel. And the faster you drive, the quicker you exhaust the battery and the less far you end up getting. The network of charging points in Belgium remains scant, even though the government is making every effort to address this problem. Be sure to check where you can stop to charge before you leave. Click here to find the electric charging points in your local area or on your route.
For road warriors that live or work in cities
A full hybrid combines a diesel or petrol engine with a small electric motor and a small battery. The two jointly power the car. The electric motor helps to cut down the fuel consumption level when you start up or you accelerate. Whilst driving, the combustion engine also acts to charge the electric battery. At low speed, you can drive completely electric. Kick the car into gear for higher speeds and the vehicle switches to fuel. Pure electric driving is usually limited to a distance of 5 km at most. Thanks to the electric motor, your car consumes less fuel and emits less carbon dioxide.
The main drawback of hybrid cars is their price. The added outlay is worth the price only if you spend a lot of time driving around in city traffic, in traffic queues and if you travel more than 35,000 km a year. The extra cost needs to be recovered by lower fuel consumption levels. As hybrid cars remain almost entirely powered by traditional fuel, they are the least environmentally friendly of all so-called green cars. The combustion engine, the electric motor and the battery also mean they are heavier in weight and often provide less baggage space.
A compromise between ecological considerations and travel range
Plug-in hybrids have a diesel or petrol engine and an electric motor. The battery can be charged at home or at work from a regular socket. A plug-in hybrid is certainly worth considering if you do most of your travelling driving around urban environments or covering just short distances. For short distances and in built-up areas, the car consumes little to nothing. Thanks to the combustion engine and electric motor combination you get to travel as far as you would driving a petrol or diesel car.
Plug-in hybrids too are an expensive purchase. The larger battery occupies a lot of space and also adds to the vehicle’s weight. The distance you get to travel going fully electric also remains fairly limited: somewhere between 20 and 50 km. The electric maximum speed too is low: usually no more than 50 km/hour.
Ideal for longer distances
Getting behind the wheel of an electric car fitted with a range extender will see you cover more kilometres driving electrically than with a purely electric car. The range extender is a small combustion engine that acts to charge the battery where the car no longer has sufficient electric power. The electric motor continues to power the car. Convenient if you tend to travel greater distances and want to go electric. Every now and then, you need to fill up on diesel or petrol to keep the range extender going.
The extra combustion engine makes electric cars fitted with a range extender less eco-friendly than 100% electric cars. As these vehicles carry added weight, this reduces the battery autonomy, making the car less dynamic.
For eco-friendly long distance drivers
CNG is a very different fuel from LPG. CNG (compressed natural gas) is pure natural gas that has been compressed, whereas LPG is a mixture of gases that are by-products of oil refinery processes.
CNG-powered cars emit 90% less fine particulate matter and 30% less carbon dioxide than diesel or petrol cars. Not only that, natural gas is also 20 to 30% cheaper than diesel and up to 40% cheaper than petrol. Filling up on CNG is as quick as filling up on petrol or diesel. In other words, a lot quicker than electric cars charge their batteries. The CNG tank is fitted into the car floor, which means you have no boot space. Various car makes combine CNG with petrol, which allows you to keep going once the CNG tank has gone empty. For even more of an eco-friendly driving experience, you can fill up your tank on biogas.
A CNG-powered car is a more expensive purchase than a petrol car, although it is cheaper than its diesel and electric counterparts. The CNG tank is heavy and quite sizeable which means you lose out on travel range. At the current time, there are not that many filling stations in Belgium where you can fill up on natural gas: some 130. Click here to find a CNG filling station near you.
Ecology comes first at Service Rent
All cars delivered by Service Rent are ecologically cleaned and serviced. We maintain this policy along the entire line because our fleet consists only of the greenest cars on the market. We have an extensive range of alternative fuel vehicles. After all, ‘green’ cars are better for the environment as well as more tax efficient.
Driving ecologically is increasingly becoming a necessity!