- Overcoming our need for one car each by
- Families & Lifestyle | 5:17 p.m. | Wed 17 Oct 2007
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For hybrids to have a positive environmental impact, their proliferation must be accompanied by a more efficient use of cars in general – for example through a shift towards greater car-sharing. If more people were to take passengers in their cars then there would be a massive impact on fuel consumption, infrastructural wear, scrap disposal and so on.
The majority of cars on the road currently only have one occupant at any given time, which is obviously hugely inefficient. Sir Rod Eddington, the former boss of British Airways, recently estimated that, by 2025, congestion will cost the UK economy £22bn, the equivalent of £900 per household. Yet the majority of drivers still dislike the idea of using a car that isn’t “theirs”.
A future in which hybrid cars were mainstream would, hopefully, be one in which the ground were more fertile for initiatives such as “car pool” priority lanes that give vehicles carrying more than one person a speedier journey. Some organisations already help their staff to commute by allowing their intranets to be used for car-sharing schemes, and in such a future there would be more pressure upon businesses to play this kind of role going forward.
The challenge for manufacturers in this context would be to create vehicles that could be “owned” by multiple drivers, yet still allow for a degree of personalisation. One way to get drivers to accept the idea of car-sharing might be “pod” interiors – cabins that slot into pool cars to provide a fully bespoke ambience.
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