Renewable energy supplier, Hoval, is to expand its fleet of Toyota Prius company cars.
David Hemington, finance director for Hoval, said that the company had no problems with its current crop of hybrids: “I don’t get any feedback from our existing Prius drivers – which is good, because that means they’re happy and have no problems with performance, maintenance or anything else.”
Mr Hemington added that the company is looking to encourage its drivers to choose a hybrid as their company car because its eco-conscious ethos matched that of the firm’s.
A hybrid car that can be recharged by plugging it into a household electrical socket has arrived on British roads this week. The Toyota PHV is an adaptation of the Prius model, which charges its batteries by recovering energy otherwise lost during braking.
The plug-in Prius
The world’s best selling hybrid car will soon be available with a plug-in option.
The Toyota Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHV) is a conventional hybrid in the sense that it is powered by a combination of a battery and a petrol engine, running solely on the electric motor on shorter trips in order to reduce emissions. However, the it can be charged in as little as two hours from a household socket.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Plugging in the car before bedtime may become as much a part of our everyday routine as boiling the kettle first thing in the morning.”
There exists a growing network of public charging points for electric cars and this is expected to grow as demand increases.
What is a hybrid car?
| hybrid car info | …at a glance |
|---|---|
| What is a hybrid car? | A hybrid vehicle must have two independent methods of propulsion; each with their own power supply |
| How do they work? | Petrol-electric or diesel-electric hybrids supply power to the transmission from a battery, by means of an electric motor. However, they also contain a conventionally-fuelled engine, which both recharges the battery and supplies extra power to the transmission |
| Where you can buy them? | Hybrids are slowly becoming mainstream, but so far only Lexus, Honda and Toyota produce hybrid cars available in Britain |
| Advantages of hybrid cars | more fuel efficient than a conventional vehicle of the same type, reduced emissions and cheaper running costs, exempt from London Congestion Charge and no changes needed to your driving habits |
| Disadvantages of hybrid cars | Still relies on fossil fuels and therefore generates greenhouse gases and they cost more to buy than conventionally-powered cars |
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