Most car manufacturers of today have a ‘flagship’ vehicle which is promoted as ‘energy efficient’. This could of course mean many things. There are more ways to save energy than just by designing and using the latest fuel-saving engines. Though of course, it has to be said that this is generally the first port of call when trying to design a vehicle that can in today’s climate be classed as ‘green’, ‘reducing carbon footprint’, or simply ‘energy-saving’.
Since the launch and production of the first automobile; the look, design and engine power have all progressed. Of course there are many considerations to take into account when choosing the right vehicle. It could be for instance, that if most of the mileage a vehicle is going to do, is to be in and around the city, a hybrid engine would offer great fuel-saving driving. A hybrid is great at recapturing braking energy which would usually be lost in abundance in the start-stop style of driving often imposed by busy city roads.
If, on the other hand, the vehicle is going to be mostly used on a motorway at speed, then one of the characteristics to look out for in a car is a design that uses computational fluid dynamics which will result in extremely low drag at speed, significantly reducing energy required to power the vehicle.
Along with the fuel and energy saving engines, the materials used in manufacture of the vehicle are also a consideration. Currently there are several materials used in the production of the modern day car, namely, fibreglass, carbon fibre, aluminium and steel, but future vehicles may be produced using a lot of nanofibre technology which will ultimately help make cars both stronger and lighter.
As we forge forward to the future, it is worth giving a thought to the car insurance companies of today and of tomorrow. The industry has progressed over the last 20 years, offering a wider range and more individually tailored policy to suit a widening of choice cars available to buy.
One change in the car insurance industry has been the birth of comparison websites such as moneysupermarket.com, which has made it easier for consumers to search for the policy to suit them. Not only can you get temporary car insurance, multiple car polices and other one-off deals, the car insurance company offers a great many variations of the ‘typical’ car insurance policy.
Increasingly, these policies are available to buy online; some are even completely serviced by the internet. It has been said that the way forward for car insurance policies may even be ‘pay as you drive’ policies as rising car ownership costs encourage motorists to rethink how they use their cars. Quite how these will be implemented is yet to be fully proposed, but you can see the benefits from the policy holder’s point of view.
Of course, other variations on the temporary car insurance cover could be a policy available for weekend driving only, or in case you need to borrow a friend or family member’s car just for a weekend or classic car insurance policies for those who take a classic car out on the road occasionally. The possibilities are endless, but one thing seems to be certain, today’s insurance companies will be offering a great many more temporary car insurance deals in the future to suit our increasingly flexible approach to motoring.
