Hoval encourages drivers to go green

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?