<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Sustainable development

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Electric-Petrol hybrid cars

Manufacturers have developed new Electric-Petrol 'hybrid' cars.

These hybrid cars use a combined petrol engine and electric motor.

Petrol powers the car but it also contains batteries to drive the electric motor. When there is 'spare' energy from the petrol engine, it is used to charge the batteries. This energy drives the electric motor which powers the car at slow speeds. Electric-petrol hybrid cars are energy- efficient and produce less emissions.

Electric-petrol hybrid car

A modern Electric-petrol hybrid car

Meeting people's needs

Hybrid cars can perform equally as well as conventional petrol cars.
They are still more expensive than conventional petrol cars but are more becoming more popular than previous electric-only cars.

Electric-Petrol hybrids are economically and socially sustainable as well as being environmentally-friendly.

	Electric-Petrol hybrid	Petrol
Engine size	1.3 litre + electric motor	1.4 litre
Power	89 bhp	89 bhp
Petrol consumption	20 km/litre (57 mpg)	15 km/litre (44 mpg)
Carbon dioxide emissions	116 g/km	153 g/km
Acceleration (0-100km/h)	13 seconds	12 seconds
Top speed	180 km/h (111 mph)	175 km/h (109 mph)
Cost to buy	£15,100	£13,100

Comparison of medium-sized Hybrid and Petrol cars

Roll over here to see a graph of this comparison

Comparison of hybrid and petrol cars

Click to rate the sustainability of petrol, electric and hybrid cars.