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Whilst the Government has said that they would not be introducing road pricing until after the next parliament at the earliest, the Conservatives have kept the idea completely off its agenda and the Liberals of course would like action immediately the influential Committee on Climate Change has put road pricing  firmly back on the agenda for immediate consideration. They have dropped the idea of Read more �

More and more manufacturers are embracing the new stop-start technology in an effort to reduce car emissions to meet the targets set by the EU if they are to avoid some hefty fines. “But how does stop-start work Graham?” I hear you all shouting at your computer screen. In fact I can’t hear you shouting, I’m imagining it. In fact you may not even give a monkey’s banana but you’re going to be told anyway! Let’s take Read more �

If you drive a car and thought you were being singled out in the past to pay off the National Debt single handed through all the various stealth taxes, you aint seen nuthin yet as the saying goes. As local authorities form a disorderly queue behind Nottingham, the first to announce at work parking, to put forward their own schemes for Government approval, others are looking at ways to Read more �

According to Michelin we are likely to see much greener tyres in the future. Not colour green, those wags at Michelin point out, but environmentally green. They explained that along with many other tyre manufacturers they have been supporting the tests carried out by DEKRA and TUV. They take a fleet of cars and fit single make tyres on them then drive the 8 identical cars a distance of 10,000Km in 2 convoys. The routes Read more �

We keep hearing a lot about green issues and the need to improve our environment. The warnings are there, each year we see more extreme weather conditions that are blamed upon global warming but what are we actually doing about it in the cars we drive? Have I sold hundreds of hybrid cars? No. Have I seen a strong move from big gas guzzlers to city cars or even just mildly more modest cars? Read more �

The American version of our scrappage scheme, called over the pond, ‘cash for clunkers’ proved so popular that they ran out of cash within a week and have just had a second tranche of money approved. According to the New York Times the first $1 billion was used up in the first week and a further $2 billion has just been approved. I covered their scheme a few weeks ago, which offers a much greater incentive to consumers looking to replace their gas guzzling clunker with a slightly Read more �

CO2 emissions have dropped on average by 20g/km over the past 6 years and yet, according to ALD Automotive the average power output has remained more or less the same. Average power has actually increased from 126ps to 130ps whilst engine sizes have reduced from 1915cc to 1787cc. So good news for the environmentalists as well as those that like a bit of get up and go under their right welly. Miles travelled are significantly down, very few of my contracts are for more than 10,000 miles per annum and even the big fleets have seen average mileage reduce from an average of 22,475 in 2003 to 17,860 in 2009 according to ALD. This is set to drop further as a result of reduced working and cost cutting. By Graham Hill

Shell has announced the launch of a new engine oil which it claims reduces fuel consumption by up to 2.2% per annum. The oil, called Helix Ultra E, is a synthetic low viscosity motor oil aimed at reducing friction more effectively than conventional mineral oils. Shell also claims that it can cut a car’s carbon emissions by up to 72kg of CO2 per annum. By Graham Hill

Considering the latest announcements relating to electric car production and the government emphasising its efforts to support electric cars by increasing incentives it was a bit of a surprise to hear Bosch announce that petrol and diesel cars will be by far the most dominant vehicles for the next 20 years. They went on to explain that this would be due to planned improvements that are due to take place in the internal combustion engine and as a result of an insufficient understanding of technology which has led to unrealistic forecasts about electric vehicles. Dr Bernd Bohr, chairman of Bosch Automotive group, predicted that Read more �

Are you becoming green conscious? Many more people it would seem are taking the green issues into account when selecting their new cars so the Government has reacted by providing drivers with a tool that enables them to compare the green credentials of all cars. You can do this by visiting the following site: http://campaigns.direct.gov.uk/actonco2 I found it a bit slow to load but interesting once you’re there. By Graham Hill