Hybrid Car SUVs - are They Green?
Hybrid car SUVs are fast becoming more popular and more plentiful. This article looks at some of the newest crop of hybrid SUVs and tries to evaluate their contribution to greener - and safer - living.
What's here?
Scroll down for info on a few of the most modern SUV hybrids and also for a look at safety issues - for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and other road users.
Have hybrid car SUVs got a future?
Hybrid SUVs are never going to compete with bikes, or even electric cars for really green 'street cred'. But some people love SUVs, so they may as well green up as far as possible by making their next upgrade to one of the hybrid car SUVs.
People are choosing hybrids, in many cases, as a response to the looming problems of climate change. There is also a perception, especially in the US, that using hybrids could be one more way to reduce excessive fuel dependency upon other nations, nations which could be politically volatile.
Many people in the rich nations, have become accustomed to cheap and plentiful fuel. It's becoming clear that the days of oil bonanzas and low cost gasoline are already gone and oil prices are quite likely to climb steeply. Why? because the oil reserves of our planet are already depleted and what is left is increasingly difficult to access - hence, as a scarce resource, it's becoming expensive.
How long we will be able to draw on oil deposits for our car fuels is unknown but other fuel sources are emerging, so hybrid car SUVs may well have their day in the sun.
Hybrid car SUVs - the controversy
Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) have had a good few years of popularity, and, until recently, their gas-guzzling habits haven't been too big an issue amongst road users. More recently, environmental activists are mounting campaigns to shame SUV drivers for their profligate use of oil. Swedish activists, for example, (October 2007) deflated SUV tyres in an attempt to draw attention to the unsustainability of owning and driving SUVs in an urban setting.
Now most of us are all too aware of the need for as a way of cutting down greenhouse gas (CO2) and for the need to reduce urban pollution from exhaust fumes.
There will always be people who consider that an hybrid car SUV is exactly what they want or need to run their business, their family or their lifestyle. Whether oil prices will rule this out as an option for all but the richest sections of society remains to be seen.
Whatever you think of the politics or morality of driving SUVs there is no doubt that the companies producing them are now bending over backwards to give them some green credibility. And some of the latest hybrid car SUVs are quite impressive.
So what can modern hybrid car SUVs offer the discerning eco-shopper?
Here are a few details on some of what's available now, what's coming in the near future, how many MPG you are likely to achieve and other environmental benefits of SUV driving.
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