The race is on to create more mean drivers

The Sunday Times
April 12, 2009

Today’s green cars are fitted with systems that reward drivers for their economy
Ray Hutton

Climate change and the credit crunch have taken some of the fun out of motoring. Power, speed and the joys of the open road have been overtaken by the need to save money – and the planet.
There is a new sort of fun to be had out of driving, however. What the Americans call “hypermiling” – wringing the greatest possible mileage out of a given amount of fuel – has taken the place of lightning acceleration and neck-wrenching cornering.
Devotees get together to compare how many miles per gallon they have achieved in similar cars, with hypermiling clubs springing up in American cities – there is even one in Houston, home of the American oil industry.
Others have caught the bug. Owners of the Toyota Prius petrol-electric hybrid have become obsessive about achieving the most miles per gallon, monitoring the displays of energy flows and consumption at regular intervals on their cars’ dashboard displays.
To capitalise on this interest in frugal motoring, carmakers are having to rethink their traditional marketing campaigns – normally based on performance, looks and status – and come up with something different: making fuel-saving fun.
They are taking cues from electronic gadgets and computer games. Honda said that the inspiration for its Eco Assist feature was the Tamagotchi digital pet, a hand-held toy that needs constant care and attention from its owner.
Eco Assist is included in the Honda Insight hybrid, a new model similar to the Prius, but cheaper. It is designed to encourage gentle, smooth driving, avoiding sharp application of the accelerator and brakes, thereby delivering the best fuel consumption – which for the Insight can be up to 80mpg.
An electronic display at the centre of the instrument panel has a horizontal bar graph depicting fuel consumption, where optimum economy is achieved by keeping the bar at the centre line. Above it are electronic representations of green shoots – the more showing, the more frugal the driver. Outstanding results lead to a plant blooming.
When you turn off the engine at the end of a journey, the Insight provides an “eco score” and compares it with previous trips, rewarding improvements with a digital garland and trophy or admonishing heavier-than-usual footwork with a withering plant.
In Japan, Insight owners are able to transmit their results to a data-base by mobile phone and check whether they are in the day’s top 20 eco-drivers. In Britain, Honda is looking at setting up a similar online community and has started out by establishing a “mpg challenge” at its dealerships, awarding £100 gift vouchers for the best results achieved during Insight test drives.
Fiat has already established Eco-ville, a virtual world where the height of achievement is measured by mpg league tables. Its Ecodrive programme – which owners of the latest versions of the 500, Punto, Qubo and Bravo can download free – monitors the way the car is driven and makes a record of journeys on a USB stick. The data can then be analysed on a home computer to provide an “eco index”.
As well as providing contact with like-minded drivers, the Fiat site provides data on fuel consumption, carbon-dioxide emissions, cost savings and hints on how to improve your eco performance.
Fiat said that the average driver, with the habits of a motoring lifetime, achieved 60%-70% of the optimum score but that ratings improved by at least 10% after a few days of on-screen monitoring and coaching. It is piloting a “green test-drive” scheme at 10 London dealerships to demonstrate Ecodrive.
Other manufacturers have offered tuition in economical driving as a way of emphasising their commitment to reducing fuel use and carbon-dioxide output. Earlier this year, several hundred drivers took a 45-minute test with an expert instructor from the Energy Saving Trust in a scheme organised by Ford Retail, which runs the carmaker’s own 38 UK dealerships.
Virtually all the volume carmakers now offer special eco models that emphasise fuel economy and drop into a lower road-tax band than the standard versions. Typically, these have low-output diesel engines, high gearing, low-rolling-resistance tyres, and an indicator to show the optimum gear-change points.
With carbon-dioxide figures below 100g/km, three of these, the Ford Fiesta Eco Netic, Seat Ibiza Ecomotive and Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion, are exempt from road tax.
In the past, such frugal models, which tend to be more sparsely equipped than mainstream cars at a similar price, have not proved popular. However, with tax as well as fuel-cost benefits, more environmentally conscious buyers are coming forward: Bluemotion accounted for 7% of the 35,700 Polos sold in the UK last year and Ford reports that 5% of Focus sales are of the Eco Netic version.
Manufacturers are keen to sell these eco models because they need to reduce the average carbon-dioxide output of their cars to 130g/km to meet EU regulations that come into force in 2012. Those rules also expect an additional 10g/km carbon-dioxide reduction from a variety of other measures, including low-energy air-conditioning systems, improved traffic management and education in driving economically.
GREEN IDEAS
Charging points for electric cars
DRIVERS of electric vehicles are always complaining there are not enough public charging points in London – and those that are available are always in use.
The shortage is easing, thanks to Elektromotive, a Brighton company that is installing more points in a partnership with the French energy group EDF, owner of London Electricity.
Elektromotive says it should have 100 charging points in London by the end of May and 300 nationwide by the end of the year.
The points are easy to use – you need a special access key provided by the company, and then you just hook up your car. They will work with most types of electric car, and also the range of plug-in hybrids under development by Toyota and other carmakers.
If you want to find your nearest charger, look at elektromotive.com.
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