Little electric and hybrid prototypes are a regular feature on TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk, but what if you have a lot of people to transport? How is the low carbon revolution going to deal with family needs?

Well one Hungarian firm may have the answer after revealing a new small hybrid concept with a twist; two can be hitched together to provide a total of six seats. The three-seat prototype manufactured by Antro, features a hybrid engine and solar panels on the roof to provide ultra low carbon transport. Called the Antro Solo, the new prototype features a carbon fibre body and Lithium-ion batteries, and in future could even have a ‘multifuel engine-generator’.

High-efficiency solar cells placed on the roof could help provide a range of up to 25 km per day. At 3.12 m long and 1.92 m wide, the prototype may only be small but by using "by wire" control, two vehicles can be hitched together to provide additional passenger capacity.

The Hungarian firm hopes to have the Solo in production by 2012.

Here’s a selection of industry comments following the news of the ‘up to £5000’ grant for purchasing a qualifying electric car from January 2011 announced today by the Government.

Starting with our own editor, Faye Sunderland:

“This support is essential to help the UK move towards a low carbon future. We are now reliant on the carmakers to ensure that the eligible vehicles are available to consumers when the grants come available next year.

“The Plugged-in Places scheme is crucial to sustain the use of eligible vehicles so we hope to see this make significant impact on how our towns and cities prepare for the electric car revolution set to start in 2011.”

Mitsubishi Motors UK’s Managing Director, Lance Bradley, commented: “We are thrilled with this news, particularly as it coincides with the opening of the Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle Centre in Central London. We are now accepting customer orders for the i-MiEV with deliveries for January 2011. In addition, we are delighted with the successful Plugged in Places outcome, which will lead the way in infrastructure development, and we are a confirmed consortium partner with London.”

BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis comments: “Business fleets already buy more than half of all cars registered each year so it makes sense that they will be able to take advantage of this incentive. A discount of up to £5,000 is attractive, but buyers are not stupid. Fleets will need some assurance that the electric vehicle they are buying will have a second-hand value in three, six or even ten years’ time. The three-year battery warranty outlined in the DfT’s qualification criteria is a bare minimum requirement so we are pleased that buyers will have to be given the option of paying for an extended 5-year warranty.”

The Electric Car Corporation (ECC) Chief Executive David Martell commented: “This is a positive commitment the government has made towards stimulating the electric car market.  It is undoubtedly the only way UK motorists will be persuaded to change their motoring habits and give up their petrol cars.”

Paul Willcox, Managing Director at Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, comments: “We welcome the announcement that the government is to incentivise sales of electric vehicles. These incentives will bring electric vehicle ownership within reach of UK motorists and make cars like the Nissan Leaf a financially viable alternative to conventional petrol and diesel-powered cars.”

Lawrence Berns, CEO at Axeon, the lithium-ion battery systems supplier: "It is very encouraging to see the UK government helping to create an early market for the next generation of ultra-low emissions vehicles. We are confident that the effect will be to make these new technologies more accessible and ultimately more competitive. The ‘Plug-In Car Grant’ will not only be of benefit to consumers, but we believe it will also help to develop UK’s supply chain for new vehicle technologies with the potential to deliver significant emissions reductions. Axeon believes that the UK can become a global leader in automotive low carbon technologies by developing our existing capabilities.”

Following today’s announcement that the UK Government is to introduce a grant of up to £5000 for the purchase of a qualifying electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid vehicle beginning in 2011 TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk has dug a little deeper to find out what type of cars could well qualify under the terms of the scheme.

Here’s what the Government is currently proposing:

• The scheme is focused solely around passenger cars and only cars confirmed as “M1” by European Whole Vehicle Type Approval process will qualify.
• The car needs to be powered at least in part by electricity. In reality this will mean powered solely by an electric drivetrain, or by the next generation plug-in hybrids that use small internal combustion engines to top up the charge of the battery on longer runs. It is not known whether this scheme will extend to plug-in hybrids that use the engine to entirely take over after a certain distance/speed.
• Tailpipe emissions for solely electric cars should be 0g/km CO2 and for plug-in hybrid cars 75g/km or less.
• Solely electric powered car should have a driving range of more than 70 miles on a single charge. Plug-in hybrid cars should have a range of more than 10 miles while running solely on electric power – without the conventional combustion engine topping up the battery.
• The vehicle must have a maximum speed of more than 60mph.
• The vehicle must be safe. The current guidelines state that is must meet EC whole vehicle type approval, or crash tested to acceptable international standards.
• The car’s electrical components be thoroughly tested and be compliant with UN-ECE Reg 100.
• The vehicle must have mass market potential. At the moment this could mean that eligible cars will be price capped according to the number of seats.
• The car’s warranty is a minimum of 3 years/60,000 miles for conventional components and a minimum of 3 years/60,000 miles (extended to 5 years at the request of the consumer) for the battery/electric drivetrain components.

The Government will be canvassing opinion in firming up this criteria over the coming months – so it is very much a watching brief as to what the final scheme will look like.

UPDATE: There are a couple of minor changes to the criteria since it was first published in 2009 – these changes are highlighted in bold.

As always at TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk we welcome your thoughts – is this scheme good news for the promotion and take up of electric cars in the UK? Does the scheme go far enough? Do you agree with the proposed criteria outlined above? Let us know in the comments box below.

How much faith do you have that climate change is a reality? According to a new poll by Ipsos Mori, belief in global warming is falling in the UK.

The proportion of adults describing climate change as “definitely” a reality fell from 44 per cent to 31 per cent over the last 12 months. Even though around nine out of 10 people still appear to accept global warming to some degree, it seems that doubts are creeping in which could make it more difficult to garner support for actions to curb the problem, particularly with higher prices for energy and other goods.

According to Edward Landley, Ipsos Mori’s head of environment research, the true level of doubt may also be underestimated because the poll was only conducted among those aged 16-64, while it is those over the age of 65 that are typically more sceptical.

He adds that that the poll suggests there is a growing lack of public confidence in those who believe climate change has been caused by human activities – a year ago this was around one in three, compared to just one in five this year.

One of the biggest reasons behind the changing opinions appears to be the cold winter, according to a BBC poll which found that 25 per cent of people thought climate change was not happening compared to 15 per cent last year.

Lotus isn’t a name we feature too regularly here at TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk but with the Geneva Motor Show approaching the company has been all over the news.

Originally announcing a leaner, greener version of the Lotus Elise (see article) and then revealing plans to unveil the Lotus Range extender engine at the event (see article), the company will now debut the Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid Concept at the Swiss showcase.

The Lotus Evora 414E is so named because it produces 414PS of power with Lotus having developed a drivetrain system that consists of twin motors that provide 152PS of power and 400Nm of torque to each wheel via independent transmissions. Indeed power is no problem for this eye-catching model which can accelerate from 0-60mph in less than four seconds.

The 1.2litre, three-cylinder Lotus Range Extender engine offers the vehicle an additional 35kW of power at 3,500rpm and with innovative architecture there are improvements in engine mass, assembly costs, package size and emissions.

The “green” element of the vehicle comes courtesy of a lithium polymer battery pack that provides 17kWh of energy storage capacity and has been optimised for energy density efficiency with more than 100kW discharge capability. It has an all-electric range of up to 35miles and a total hybrid range of more than 300miles.

According to Lotus, the total lifetime carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the vehicle with the range extender solution, which includes the energy required to manufacture and run it, is actually lower than a fully electric car with comparable performance.

The Geneva Motor Show opens to the Press on March 2 before the public get their first glance at these eagerly anticipated new vehicles on March 4.

Just how much of an impact will fuel cell vehicles make on the market in the next 10 years? A new report from Pike Research has examined the issue.

It suggests that fuel cell vehicles will be commercially launched in most regions by 2014 and that cumulative sales of light duty fuel cell cars and trucks will pass the 2.8million vehicle mark globally by 2020.

The report suggests that research into fuel cell vehicles will reach $4billion this year and will climb to $5.3billion globally by 2016. Spending is expected to grow rapidly between 2015 and 2016 with automakers committing to introducing vehicles to the marketplace.

Pike Research also suggests that annually light vehicle fuel cell sales will total 669,597 by 2020 with Western Europe likely to lead the charge of sales with a 37 per cent share of the world market. The Asia Pacific region will be close behind, accounting for 36 per cent of sales; while North American sales will make up around 25 per cent of the total. Despite North America having a smaller share of the market overall, the US is still expected to be the largest single country market for fuel cell vehicles with China and Germany close behind.

The research also outlines five car manufacturers that are expected to lead the way for fuel cell vehicle sales – Daimler, Honda, General Motors, Hyundai and Toyota. Currently, it is these manufacturers that have the largest fleets of fuel cell vehicles.

According to Dave Hurst of Pike Research, fuel cell vehicles should receive “substantial support from the largest automakers” and now the pressure is on both governments and gas companies to ensure hydrogen fuelling stations are in place to support the emerging market.

Motorists will be offered grants up to £5,000 towards the cost of a new ‘ultra-low carbon car’, the Government has confirmed.

Set to be introduced in January 2011, the new grants will eligible against the purchase of a new range of plug-in hybrid and electric cars. Similar in form to the soon-to-expire Government scrappage scheme, the new ‘Plug-in Car Grant’ will provide a discount against new electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell and range-extended vehicles of 25 per cent off the recommended retail price. Capped at a maximum grant of £5000, cars will be discounted at the point of purchase and subsidy claimed back by the manufacturer.

The £230 million fund for the scheme is part of the ‘Ultra Low-Carbon Vehicles in the UK ‘ strategy with plans to introduce the grants first announced as part of the 2009 Budget. Today, however it is confirmed that the Government will go ahead with plans to introduce the grants in 2011, when it is hoped that many of the eligible vehicles will become available.

A further £30m initiative- called Plugged-In Places – will pay for the roll-out of a network of electric vehicle charging hubs. The fund will see charging infrastructure appearing in car parks, major supermarkets, leisure and retail centres, as well as on the street.  The first Plugged-In Places were today named today as London, Milton Keynes and the North East; and between them they will be installing over 11,000 vehicle recharging points during the next three years. 

These initiatives are part of a wider £450 million fund to support the creation of a flourishing early market for ultra-low carbon vehicles.

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis said:”Decarbonising transport isn’t an aspiration – it’s a reality. By this time next year, cutting edge motorists will be on the roads with these next generation cars they’ve purchased because of our help.

“And thanks to the Plugged-In Places we will have in place infrastructure to support this growing early market.

“Transport has a huge part to play in helping the UK meet its stringent emission reduction targets and today’s announcement is another step on the road to putting the UK at the global forefront of ultra-low carbon vehicle development, manufacture and use.”

Business minister Pat McFadden said:”Low Carbon vehicles are an important part of the broader shift to a low carbon economy.

“We have already committed £450m to delivering our ambitious vision of supporting suppliers of low carbon technology, encouraging demand from consumers and enabling lead UK cities and regions to switch on charging infrastructure.

“The Government is focusing on this sector as a priority and we are committed to helping British businesses take advantage of the growth potential and job opportunities this presents.”

The Plug-in Car Grants will be open to both private and business fleet buyers. To be eligible for the scheme, cars will have to pass performance criteria to ensure safety, range, and ultra-low tailpipe emissions.

The Plugged-In Places will provide the charge points to support these vehicles

A second competition for Plugged-in Places funding is to follow later in the year, with consortia from the West Midlands, Cornwall, Sheffield, the Lake District, Greater Manchester and Northern Ireland having already confirmed their intention to bid for the next wave of funding.

Air pollution may be responsible for more than 35,000 premature deaths a year, a government minister admitted, more than 50 per cent more than the official estimate.

Environment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick quoted the figure when giving evidence to the Commons environment audit committee (EAC), the Guardian reports.

Government estimates of premature deaths from long-term exposure to air pollution have previously stood around 24,000 people a year, a figure calculated from 1998 data. But evidence given to the MPs by Professor Frank Kelly of University College London and subsequently echoed by Fitzpatrick today suggest the real figure is around 35,000.

The MPs were also told that air pollution – minute particles emitted by road transport, shipping, domestic and industrial fuel burning may now be costing £7bn to £20bn a year.

Freedom of Information request by the Campaign for Clean Air in London (CCAL), confirmed the ‘up to 24,000’ number used in the speech last year was based on 1998 estimates for the health impact of air pollution, which themselves comprised 8,100 premature deaths due to short-term exposure to dangerous airborne particles; 3,500 due to sulphur dioxide; and between 700 and 12,500 due to ozone.

Simon Birkett, Founder of the CCAL called the UK’s air pollution problem ‘one of the biggest public health failings by a government in modern history’ and called for the Government to apologise for failing to warn the public of the threat posed by poor air quality.

He said: “Under intense questioning as part of the same EAC inquiry two weeks ago, Professor Frank Kelly – one of the UK’s most respected health experts – confirmed the likelihood of around 35,000 premature deaths in the UK in 2005 due to long-term exposure to dangerous airborne particles. Professor Kelly mentioned also a European estimate of some 50,000 for such deaths for the UK. Even allowing for some overlap between the number of premature deaths due to short-term and long-term exposure, and perhaps between different types of pollutants, the EAC has finally unearthed the real impact of poor air quality in the UK.

“We should remember too that, even if the UK achieved clean air tomorrow, people would still continue to die prematurely due to their earlier exposure to dangerous airborne particles. Only over time, as a population generation lived its whole life free from air pollution, would people reach their full potential life expectancy. “

The Subaru hybrid Tourer concept is set to make its European debut at the Geneva Motor show next week.

Featuring the world’s first ‘Boxer’ hybrid powerplant and Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD), the Hybrid Tourer Concept display Subaru’s familiar design DNA combined with a spacious cabin accessed through elongated gullwing-style doors.

The absence of B-pillars affords a heightened sense of light and space to the interior, providing occupants with a less obstructed view of the outside world.  The swept-back panoramic windscreen and a height-adjustable dashboard afford the driver a similarly unhindered vantage point.

The innovative hybrid system uses Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive and a 2.0-litre horizontally-opposed, direct-injection, turbocharged petrol ‘Boxer’ engine, allied to two electric motors – Subaru remains the only company to mate this engine layout to a hybrid drivetrain. The electric motors are powered by lithium-ion batteries – a 10kW item at the front and a 20kW unit at the rear.

In normal driving conditions the direct-injection petrol engine is used, but at lower speeds and start-up, the rear electric motor drives the car.  The forward electric unit, which is mainly used as a power generator, kicks in to assist performance and efficiency while tackling inclines.  Subaru’s in-house designed Lineartronic automatic transmission is featured, further boosting fuel efficiency and driving performance.

Alongside the Tourer hybrid will be the plug-in STELLA EV, launched in Japan in the summer. The vehicle which is being leased in small number back in Japan, is a lithium-ion battery-powered car, capable of driving 90km-per-charge, with a 40kW capacity. The vehicle can also be recharged up to 80 per cent of its capacity in about 15 minutes when using its quick charging system.  Under normal circumstances the city car is fully rechargeable in five hours when using an AC240V power outlet.

Subaru’s ‘Boxer’ diesel engine technology is unique because unlike other diesel engines, the Boxer’s piston move horizontally rather than vertically, allowing the carmaker to produce an engine which is  wider, less tall and with a lower centre of gravity.

This helps improve the road handling of the car as well as boost fuel efficiency thanks to the low centre of gravity. The carmaker’s  Impreza, Forrester, Legacy and Outback models are all currently available with this 2.0-litre diesel engine configuration. 

The carmaker along with just about any other, will be keen to showcase its green credentials at the forthcoming show when it opens its doors to the public on March 4, 2010.

Honda is to unveil a ‘revolutionary’ one person battery electric vehicle concept at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show.

Set to debut alongside the EV-N concept, the three wheeled wonder uses an electric drivetrain mounted low in the chassis to give the vehicle a low centre of gravity and increase its stability. It features a clear canopy that covers the driver’s seat while it is parked and not in use. When 3R-C vehicle is in motion, the canopy becomes an enveloping wind-shield that provides the pilot, who sits low in the vehicle, with significant protection from the bodywork and doors.

Despite its diminutive size, the high sides of the safety shell seat promise to give greater safety to the occupant, reducing the threat from side impacts and improving weather protection. In front of the driver is a lockable boot area, which gives significant secure storage for luggage or other items. The 3R-C’s designers created a flexible cover that surrounds the upper torso to reduce exposure to bad weather and improving comfort.

Created by designers working at Honda’s Research and Design facility in Milan, the 3R-C is the carmaker’s study into how future minimal urban transportation could look like.

Meanwhile the EV-N concept, previously shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, will make its European debut at the show. A design study inspired by the diminutive 1967 N360 city car, the EV-N features Honda’s own solar panels in the roof, which could charge the car while it is parked. Two of Honda’s U3-X, electric personal mobility devices are attached to the inside of each door. The two-door EV-N concept is envisioned with a lithium-ion battery pack, and small electric motor for predominantly urban use.

Alongside the two electric prototypes, the carmaker’s famous hydrogen fuel cell car, the FCX Clarity will also feature at the show.. Currently being leased by customers in Japan and the US, Honda’s only production fuel cell car now has two models permanently stationed in Europe for long-term research purposes. Alongside research work, the pair of FCX Claritys are being demonstrated at events like the COP 15 climate summit in Copenhagen, and the Berlin Climate Conference.

The Geneva Motor Show opens its doors to the motoring press on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Stayed tuned to TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk as we bring you the latest and greenest from the show.