If possible you should look into getting a hybrid vehicle. There are models and styles to fit almost everyone’s needs. You can find a variety of models that are 2-doors, 4-doors, luxury sedans or SUV’s. Hybrids get better mileage than traditional vehicles, which saves you money on fuel. They also have cleaner emissions which is better for the environment.

If buying a hybrid vehicle isn’t a feasible option; then you should try to find the car that will give you the best fuel mileage. Another option is to use bio-diesel fuel. It can be found in almost every state in the US. It can be used in almost any type of diesel car or truck with little or no modifications needed to the engine. Bio-diesel is clean, vegetable based and a carbon neutral fuel.

Ethanol is another vegetable based fuel which is available throughout the US. It is estimated that there are between five and six million vehicles on the road today that have flex fuel options. Flex fuel vehicles allow you to use ethanol or premium gasoline, which makes it more convenient for the driver.

Every day the auto manufacturers are making great strides in building cars that are less harmful to the environment and better on gas mileage. If you shop around you will be able to find a car that meets your needs and is also eco-friendly.

Hybrid cars are traditionally classified by powertrain and include mild, single mode and two-mode. The mild hybrid will deliver the smallest increase in fuel mileage and is usually up to 20%. The single mode hybrid does best at lower speed driving and you can get up to a 40% increase in fuel mileage. The two mode hybrids will give you more fuel economy at all speeds and they can provide enough power to be used in larger vehicles.
Hybrids are a good choice if you want to do your part to help make a difference in our environment. You can reduce emissions and lower your fuel bill with hybrids. Some models can run in electric only mode when you are going slow in heavy traffic. There is also new technology which has helped diesel fueled vehicles to have lower emissions and to get better fuel mileage too.

The hybrid uses an electric motor which is powered by a high voltage battery pack. The hybrids that are considered “full” hybrids can run on the electric motor, the gasoline engine or a combination of the two. Hybrids do not need to be plugged in to be recharged. The engine recharges the battery pack.

Hybrids are a good choice if you are in the market for a vehicle that is fuel efficient and has lower emissions to help save the environment. There are many models and types of hybrids on the market today so you can find the one that will fit your needs.

A hybrid car is basically a normal fuel efficient car that has two motors. It has both an electric motor and a gasoline powered motor. It also contains an innovation system that captures braking energy to store in an onboard battery.

The reason there is two motors is because electric motors turn off when they are idle and gas motors do better at high speeds. Gas motors can also deliver more power. In the stop and go traffic a electric motor does great and does not produce any emissions. The gas motor charges the batteries while it is running.
In a hybrid vehicle the gas motor starts automatically when the battery gets low and charges the battery. A hybrid never has to be plugged into an outlet. Hybrids are more complex and tend to be more expensive. However, with the increase in popularity the price for a hybrid is going down. Hybrids can now be purchased for a reasonable price.

There are also incentives from the government to choose more fuel efficient and green cars like the hybrid. There are tax credits available and you can also save on car insurance. Some auto insurance companies reduce premiums on hybrid cars.

Hybrids are the most efficient of all gasoline vehicles. They usually get between 48 to 60mpg. The fuel efficiency comes from the aerodynamics, weight reduction and from smaller less powerful engines. With a hybrid you get the best of both worlds and get to same on fuel at the same time.

A Green Car is a vehicle that is more environmentally friendly than a conventional car. A green car consumes less fuel or they use renewable energy sources to fuel the vehicle. There are several types of green cars available today. There are electric, hybrid, hydrogen and bio-diesel cars.

An electric car is a zero emissions type of vehicle because it produces no harmful fuel emissions. It relies solely on electricity from batteries to run. This type of car has fewer moving parts so it is cheaper to maintain. They can go for short distances without having to recharge the battery.

A Hybrid car combines a gas motor with an electric engine that can recharge on its own. This is a great way to extend the miles per gallon of fuel your car uses. It will save you money at the gas pumps. These cars are the same as regular cars as far as having to change your everyday driving habits or activities.

A hydrogen fuel car converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into mechanical energy that can be used to power a motor or engine. Hydrogen is the most abundant elements so by using it to run a vehicle it is an efficient way to save money and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Bio-diesel cars run on fuel that is made from vegetables such as corn or soybeans, or from animal fat. These types of fuels are renewable and reduce CO2 emissions. Biodiesel cars are becoming more popular because biodiesel is becoming available at more gas stations.

Green cars are the “wave of the future” and will save money in fuel costs and maintaining a vehicle. They will also help reduce CO2 emissions and make the world cleaner and healthier.

Except they may have hit a snag in the fuel cell system they have been preferring to power their view of the future green automobile.

Fuel cells are very efficient at producing mileage – in fact they are about 3 to 4 times more efficient than a regular gas powered car engine – or put this another way, if we all switched to fuel cell powered cars we would drop carbon emissions by 70% overnight. Or in another way – we solve the carbon pollution crisis in one fell swoop.

The problem is that fuel cells use hydrogen as their energy source and this produces ultra low emissions such as water (created by burning the hydrogen with readily available oxygen in the air – H2O) – but where do you get all the hydrogen you are going to need, and we are going to need a lot!

The immediate answer is you get hydrogen from … oil and gas!

Hang on a sec – to power a car cleanly we still have to drill for oil and process it (producing carbon emissions in the process) to get the hydrogen which will then fuel a car that costs me more money to buy?

Why not simply drill the oil, take that and power the regular gas mobile I own and buy now?

The problem is neither approach will work – we are using finite natural resources which will be exhausted and as the supply dwindles, higher and higher gas prices will be the result until the only people who can afford to drive a gas powered car will be the super rich with an antique car collection.

The environment will not wait that long either.

The challenge the South Koreans are now trying to address, along with the rest of the green car R&D world is how to source cheap, clean hydrogen.

A staggering 7.2 million paychecks rely on the American car manufacturers alone – more than many countries pay their entire population and the knock on effect on local economies of even small scale lay offs is highly significant. Bowling Green, KY and 200 workers at a local Corvette location are waiting to hear if GM will file for bankruptcy – the effect on the families involved is bad enough but the effect on the local economy of another 200 pay checks not being spent in grocery stores, malls, home improvements and the rest is just another hard nail being driven into smaller, localized economies already struggling with their own issues.

We have to keep positive – Chrysler has already filed for bankruptcy and if GM does, another wave of lay offs are going to happen BUT, and it is a HUGE BUT – perhaps this is what we need to do to get ourselves out of the mess and back on track fast!

The takeover of Chrysler by Fiat will introduce US manufacturers and suppliers to the small car technology that has made Fiat into such a giant around the world with a range of vehicles which are, well to be blunt, very small. Certainly very small compared to the US market!

Small may not suit the US consumer so well, but the technology which produces extremely high gas mileage certainly will and with the economies of scale such a merger is going to produce, prices for greener vehicles will fall (Japan indicates this right now with the new Prius hybrid enjoying 40,000 advance orders for this month alone) and the sooner we get American workers back on the production lines and putting their pay checks back into local economies.

The answer is simple – Japan is leading the advance into green car development and the chances are you and me are going to be driving Japanese (and possibly Korean) green cars in 10 years time unless something very radical is done with our markets and most of all, our car makers and even more than them, the political will to effect change.

In Japan, Honda launched the hybrid Insight in February and it has become the first hybrid car to lead new car sales in that country – that is some impact to make in one of the leading car making and car using economies in the world. Meanwhile, Toyota is moving forward with developments and refinements to its best seller, the Prius and this is due to be launched there now (May) – it has 40,000 advance orders for that month alone! More than this, the price gap between hybrid and gas models is narrowing – making more sense for consumers to move to the green alternative vehicle and this gap is only going to get narrower and probably will be extinguished altogether as mass production and volumes bring with them economies of scale.

So far, Honda and Toyota are the only car makers who are achieving the pricing levels with the fuel performance and this underlies the huge sums and efforts they have already tied up in R&D; something Capitol Hill is desperately trying to make good and bring US manufacturers to heel.

They have a long upward struggle to match the foreign car makers lead but with Chrysler marrying Fiat (or being adopted) this will start giving US manufacturers access to the green technology reserves while the Government and bankruptcy courts sort out the debris of these huge companies, wallowing like sulky hippopotamii.

It is pretty bad news for all those who have not invested in a new hybrid car because they are going to be losing out on huge fuel economies and minimizing environmental impact.

But aside from that, the bad news is non-existent because when you compare the 29% drop with the trend for the entire light duty vehicle sector which dropped 41% – in this context, hybrids are stacking up pretty well despite the fierce competition for business and the adverse economic conditions.

January 2009 figures show hybrids took 2.3% of the entire car market but this was flat during February 2009 with no change – compare this to 1.9% for February 2008 and you can see that though a small section of the total market, it is bucking the trend of decline we are seeing elsewhere.

Toyota has been suffering with only the Rx 400h showing positive sales growth up by almost 31% while all other models dropped off.

GM came in second slot for total hybrid sales but management have got to have their attention focused on bringing in the merger/takeover with Fiat after being given enough working capital to get through the next 30 days by the US government (i.e. you the taxpayer).

Nissan, Honda and Ford all reported drops in the monthly sales numbers of their hybrids too but all their falls are less than the drop in volume sales for non-hybrids which are proving a less attractive selling proposition than hybrid equivalents.

With so much happening in DC with GM and Chrysler the executive focus may not be on the green ball at the moment but as Fiat/GM move to closing a deal and resolving the Chrysler issues becomes more problematical, the green issues are taking a back seat but not in the sales leagues.

Does it mean squeezing the last MPG out of existing technology, or lowering emissions as far as possible, or even developing a recyclable vehicle with minimal environmental impact to produce or dispose of?

Well it is all those things and more yet to come as environmental concerns increasingly push through to the forefront of responsible peoples’ thinking and we all start doing our bit to help save our planet by reducing, reusing and recycling more.

The car and transport is at the frontline of the environmental battle.

Motor manufacturers are busy developing more eco friendly vehicles, not least because of government incentives to do so, but also because to lag behind in the race to be green would be a business disaster.

Forget the environmental side of things for a moment; if you have a choice of two cars with similar space and performance yet one does twice as many miles to the gallon, which would you choose?

With gas prices back at a more realistic sub-$2 level perhaps you don’t care right now but this time last year gas prices were threatening $5 and you probably cared then!

Now if the emissions of that car were considerably lower too, you can give yourself a pat on the back as well as dollars in your pocket for making a sensible choice.

This is the green economic argument – lower costs and lower environmental impact and customers will buy the product.

Honda are at the forefront of the green race and will soon have a complete range of hybrid cars on the market, these use energy wasted in other cars, such as during braking, to top up batteries which are used when additional power is required. This allows a small engine to be used. Emissions are lower than on an equivalent non hybrid car. Additionally the FX fuel cell car is now in production which uses hydrogen to produce electricity and only water as output, the problem with this technology being the requirement to top up with hydrogen so a complete infrastructure would need to be in place to make use of this type of technology viable.

In addition the fully electric car is becoming more available but, apart from the fact that its carbon footprint includes the generation of the electricity used to power it, battery limitations are such that it is only relevant at the moment to short journeys.

Why are more hybrids not being sold?

Two very good questions and both of them are answered by simple economics.

They give better gas mileage than their regular gas guzzling counterparts but gas prices have dropped in the last year dramatically.

Consumer research identifies repeatedly that hybrids fundamental main selling point is the gas mileage and the cost savings they produce.  Buyers who are attracted to a hybrid are looking for the overall cost reduction in the gas bill and view the purchase as a cost/benefit exercise – does the extra cost of buying the hybrid get justified by cheaper gas bills down the road?

Where a hybrid can demonstrate a positive benefit in dollar terms, you get the sale and it is as simple as that.

Hybrids are not being sold based on their green credentials and should this not be the way forward for us all?

Gas prices have dropped dramatically, but no matter what the price of gas, is it really justified to pay more for a green solution compared to the conventional one?

I don’t think so; hybrids should be competing for dollars on the same basis as conventional cars and in fact, any other product or service I’m looking at buying.  I want to know that the car is going to be reliable, transport my family and I where I want them to get to safely and in comfort and in style; I want the features and optional extras I expect and I want this done within my budget and if a hybrid can deliver this better than a conventional gas vehicle, then I’ll buy it and if it doesn’t, I won’t!

This is the American way and history shows it works; with green cars what we are looking at trying to do is to make them commercially viable for the mass market and if we do that, we will help solve the green issues confronting the planet as well.