Eco friendly cars, are they any good ?

The need for cars " friendly to the environment " is increasing day after day for many updated reasons: first the ozone layer problems, then the pollution, and now the fact that we'll soon run out of oil. Nobody cared about the pollution as some thought it cannot be avoided, a considerable number of people cared about the ozone layer but not that much, but when the fear of running out of oil came along, things really began to look good for Eco cars.



There were some electric cars on the roads but they were built as an experiment, many of them could only be rented by manufacturers for few years. and the ones that can actually be owned by people were, there isn't another way of saying it, trash. They had a very limited amount of power, by which I mean that if it rains at night, you'll have to choose between headlights and wipers, if you turn both on you'll run out of batteries after a couple of miles ( if you're lucky ), usually before you leave your garden.




Millions of dollars are spent every day on researches for making the dream of electric cars possible, all cars factories in the world are working on that, and they're still facing problems: cost of the car, mainly the batteries ( lithium isn't cheap ), time to recharge your car (up to 30 hours ), battery life ( as I said before you'll have to drive without headlights, wipers, radio etc to get home ), recycling plans and that's just the start. And think about it, if making a car friendly to the environment involves searching for materials under the seas and burning more oil, what's the benefit ?

The best example for this stage of hopeless cars is the G-Wiz. it's an Indian electric car. It has an electric engine producing a number of horse powers, has a top speed of 50 mph ( 80 kph ), two small seats, and a number of accessories which you won't use anyway like a radio, a a/c system with a heater, headlights and sreen wipers. and it has a battery that lasts for 80 kilometers of careful driving, if you even turn the turning indicators on the range will be reduced. The whole package of saving the planet costs over $10,000, which is a lot for a two seater ( OK it has two microscopic seats in the back ) that wouldn't carry more than 270 kilograms.



Anyway, in terms of the engine that uses most of its " fuel " to produce energy, the electric engine is the second. The best type of engines is the hybrid. The idea is simple: two engines. An electric engine for careful silent driving across the street, and another petrol engine for acceleration, speed, power and screen wipers. and the best thing about this is that you don't have to charge the batteries for the electric engine: the petrol engine recharges them when in use. The Toyota Prius is the leader of this category, and if you don't like it this combination of engines can be found in almost every kind of cars: small family cars, people carriers, big luxury cars... and good news: Mercedes-Benz just made a S-400 hybrid!



But the problem remains in the cost of the batteries used in hybrids. Batteries are a good solution, but not the best thing we have now, because the petrol engine is used most of the time, and the electric engine is run by batteries which in turn are charged with the petrol engine. Petrol won't last forever. I think the best idea is to come up with an engine which uses another source of energy. Hydrogen for instance.