He won’t decide till the last moment in what form he’ll tell it – he has not decided whether to bring along his 10-piece band – but its outlines are already clear. Most people probably still think hybrids have to be plugged in, as 70 per cent in a recent Honda survey admitted they didn’t know how a hybrid worked. Many people don’t realise that the driver doesn’t have to switch between petrol and electric Some people still think hybrids are only for tree huggers.. Fifty per cent of motorists have never heard of a hybrid car. Most people think of a hybrid as “an offspring of two animals or plants of different species” rather than a car with a combination of a petrol engine with an electric motor. If we want a greener future, we’ll need education and incentives. It’s powered by an electric motor, runs on batteries, and you just plug it into the mains to power it up..

Specifications

Price: From £6,999 Motor: D/C electric Performance: Top speed of around 42mph; 600mpg equivalent CO2: Nil (at point of use) Worth considering: Smart ForTwo, used Honda Insight Available from: www.goingreen.co.uk 020-8574 3232OK: if you’re so concerned about global warming that you think driving a Fiat Panda, say, is tantamount to being an accessory to the murder of Gaia, then the G-Wiz ought to calm you down. Now, cars emitting under 100g/km of CO2 in the official drive-cycle test attract no tax at all. Electric cars have always been tax-exempt, as they emit nothing except heat and the smell of warm insulation, but now the most frugal of fossil-fuel cars are similarly tax-free.. Newer cars fall into various emissions bands, and the Budget two weeks ago extended the banding and altered the figures.

Cars made before that date are taxed as having either a small engine or a large one, the dividing line being set at a slightly strange 1,549cc. Nearly all cars do this, which is why, since 2001, the annual tax has been based on a car’s CO2 emissions. But, with the global warming debate raging, we’re more concerned about the emissions of carbon dioxide that result from burning carbon-based fuels. How can a car’s “green” credentials be judged? By the amount of energy it consumes ­ the less, the better.