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| Plug-In Hybrid are Eco-Friendly? |
Majority of people around the globe (mainly in rich countries) using plug-in hybrid electric cars are consuming more gasoline than their conventional counterparts. Sound strange but it’s true. Not sure how…read on. Plug-in hybrid automobiles use regular gasoline engine along with electric motor with battery. People buy these cars for different reasons – improve their Eco-friendly credentials, style statement, make use of generous subsidies given by government on electric cars, etc etc. That’s all good, but something is going wrong.
Plug-in hybrid owners are frequently choosing gasoline power to drive their cars even though their vehicles have inbuilt technology to run on batteries (electrically charged). When plug-in hybrid cars are made to run on just gasoline they actually consume more fuel since they are carrying 150 kilograms of extra electric components than regular cars.
According to a report such a situation is arising due to lack of charging facilities in the owner’s neighborhood. Lots of people using such cars are unable to charge it at their place of residence due to reasons like no reserved parking space, lack of electric outlet near the car etc. Also the public charging facilities are not densely located and you need to drive for few kilometers before you can access it. Countries like US and China are spending billions of dollars to build charging stations across the country but it will still take many more years before such facilities are easily accessible for majority of their population. Till then its best to drive a regular gasoline vehicle and be proud that you are contributing less to global warming than a rich guy driving a state of the art plug-in hybrid vehicle.
Source: Bloomberg
Read More On: Hybrid Cars
