By Greener Ideal
The tides are changing within the motoring world. With manufacturers becoming ever more conscious of environmental issues, and governments imposing ever stricter emissions regulations on these manufacturers, hybrid and electric cars are becoming more and more prominent on the global market.
Rather sadly, hybrid cars have never really been viewed by petrol-heads as something to get excited about, mainly because they were often incredibly expensive, and not very performance orientated at all. Think about something along the lines of the original Toyota Prius.
Since then, however, technology available to car makers has advanced rapidly. As a result of this, the world has recently been exposed to a torrent of really very exciting new developments within the hybrid/electric car world. An example that immediately comes to mind are the three new hypercars from Porsche, Mclaren and Ferrari; all of which utilise hybrid technology to deliver insane levels of performance, but also are kinder to the environment in terms of both fuel use and emissions.
In celebration of this new-age of hybrid motoring, I have compiled a list of the 5 most exciting hybrid cars either currently available, or soon to be available on the global market. Obviously this is going to be influenced by personal taste, so feel free to disagree and comment!
1.Mclaren P1
In my mind, this is the daddy of all of the hybrid cars. With deliveries to retail customers in the UK beginning in October 2013, the latest hypercar to emerge from the stables at Mclaren proved to be immensely popular, with all 375 production units being sold out by the following month. Impressive for a car that requires potential buyers to fork out a sum around the $1.15 million (£1,000,000) mark.
When you look at the figures that come with this car though, it is easy to see where this popularity comes from. Here, we have a car that has a power figure of 890BHP —thanks to the combined efforts of a 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8 making 727BHP, and an electric motor producing the remaining 176BHP —and can shoot from 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds whilst only producing 194g/km of CO2. It also has an electric range of around 7 miles.
For a performance car of this calibre, green credentials like that are hugely impressive.
2. BMW i8
The new BMW i8 is the much anticipated hybrid super-coupe that is tipped to rival the likes of Porsche and Jaguar. Whilst it will carry a hefty price-tag of around $135,800, the idea of being able to keep up with a standard model Porsche 911 and the current BMW M3, whilst obtaining average fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures of 2.1L/100km and 49g/km can’t help but beggar belief.
This is definitely one exciting hybrid motor!
3. Volkswagen XL1
This particular car looks like it has arrived straight out of the future. Whilst it may not boast the same impressive performance figures as the two cars above, the Volkswagen XL1 does boast an almost ridiculous figure for fuel consumption. That figure, Volkswagen claims, comes to about 313mpg thanks to a tiny 800cc twin-cylinder diesel motor combined with an even smaller electric motor.
These motors put out 47bhp and 27bhp respectively. So, whilst there may be no 2.8 second 0-62mph time with this car, the green credentials alone are reason enough to get excited.
4. BMW i3
As the second BMW to appear on this list, the i3 differs itself slightly from the other cars on this list due to the fact that it is an all-electric vehicle. Whilst the concept of an all-electric vehicle is nothing new, the i3 has made its way onto this list due to the fact that it is actually quite a sporty little number.
With a 0-100km/h time of 7.2 seconds, it is on par with some hot-hatches. It also uses no fuel and produces zero emissions. Jolly good.
5. 2016 Nissan GTR
The next Godzilla is going to be a hybrid, and a ridiculously powerful one at that. In terms of bang-for-your-buck, the current GTR with its 3.8-litre, 550BHP, twin-turbo V6 is already quite the hooligan. The 2016 hybrid reincarnation of the GTR is tipped to have a F1 style Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) added to the existing motor, giving a potential power output of around the 800BHP mark.
Nissan executive vice president Andy Palmer has stated that “electric systems can fill in the gaps in the torque curve and offer genuine performance gains, as well as lowering emissions. It’s win-win, and I’d expect to see some form of hybridization on the next generation of car.”
With developments like these, who said hybrids were dull? Which of these sharp hybrid cars would you want to drive the most?
(Source: Greener Ideal)