Green light for Electric cars

The UK is trailing behind other European countries in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars – ranking just 16th out of 25 in a survey by campaign group Transport & Environment. The survey shows that many European countries including France, Italy and Denmark are cutting CO2 emissions faster than the UK. At the Frankfurt motor show this week a number of new low carbon cars were launched and the industry is being led by BMW who achieved a 10.2% cut in average emissions from its cars from 2007 levels due mostly to efficiency measures introduced across it’s entire range of cars. By 2015 all European car manufacturers will be required to ensure their average emission is less that 130g/km CO2, and laying down a marker Toyota have said that their new ‘plug in’ version of the hybrid Prius will reduce CO2 emissions from the current 89g/km CO2 to under 60g/km CO2 – and will allow owners to charge up their cars electric power source at home. Other manufacturers introducing new cars included Renault with an electric saloon, The Fluence Zero, a hybrid RCZ from Puegeot and a new hi performance car from Audi – the e-Tron.