Major New Fuels Could Make Hybrids 'Just as Climate-Friendly as Electric Vehicles' in Huge Breakthrough

by Felix Reeves (GB News) The fuel could mean drivers can skip the long waiting times for electric vehicles -- Major new fuels could play an “important role” in the future of reducing car emissions across its entire life cycle by using renewable ethanol.

According to a new study, “compact” plug-in hybrid vehicles running on E85 fuel – which contains up to 85 per cent renewable ethanol – are “just as climate friendly as battery electric vehicles”.

The research, from French organisation IFPEN, compared the greenhouse gas emissions of vehicles powered solely by petrol, plug-in “flex-fuel” hybrids running on E85 and battery electric cars.

It took into account all emissions in connection with the vehicle and its battery as well as the energy used across production, distribution and combustion.

Based on the data, as well as projections to 2040, shows that plug-in flex-fuel hybrids running on E85 operating 40 per cent of distance travelled as an electric vehicle are at least as climate-friendly as all-electric vehicles.

The report outlined how hybrids running on E85 have similar carbon neutrality to electric vehicles in terms of achieving carbon neutrality across their lifecycle.

Some petrol station forecourts across France continue to stock E85 fuel, in addition to Finland, Sweden and the United States.

E85 was previously available in the UK at forecourts owned by supermarket giant Morrisons, as well as B30 – which is a mix of 30 per cent biodiesel and 70 per cent standard diesel.

Plug-in hybrids could make use of further benefits when using E85 petrol, namely that it will be more readily available at filling stations, removing the need to wait at recharging stations to charge an EV. READ MORE

Excerpt from Washingrton Post: But a new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy suggests that the “greenest” car in America may not be fully electric. The nonprofit group, which has rated the pollution from vehicles for decades, says the winning car this year is the Toyota Prius Prime SE, a plug-in hybrid that can go 44 miles on electricity before switching to hybrid.

“It’s the shape of the body, the technology within it, and the overall weight,” said Peter Huether, senior research associate for transportation at ACEEE. “And all different types of Priuses are very efficient.”

It’s not the first time that a plug-in vehicle has topped the GreenerCars list; the Prius Prime also won out in 2020 and 2022. But with more and more electric vehicles on the market, the staying power of the plug-in hybrid is surprising.

The analysis shows that simply running on electricity is not enough to guarantee that a car is “green” — its weight, battery size and overall efficiency matter, too. While a gigantic electric truck weighing thousands of pounds might be better than a gas truck of the same size, both will be outmatched by a smaller, efficient gas vehicle. And the more huge vehicles there are on the road, the harder it will be for the United States to meet its goal of zeroing out emissions by 2050.

The GreenerCars report analyzes 1,200 cars available in 2024, assessing both the carbon dioxide emissions of the vehicle while it’s on the road and the emissions of manufacturing the car and battery. It also assesses the impact of pollutants beyond carbon dioxide, including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter — all of which can harm human health.

At the bottom of the list were large gas-guzzling trucks such as the Ford F-150 Raptor R, with scores in the 20s. So was one electric car: the Hummer EV, which weighs 9,000 pounds and scored a 29.

The Prius Prime outranked its competitors, Huether said, because of its small battery — which lowers the emissions and pollution associated with manufacturing — and its high efficiency. The vehicle’s battery is less than one-tenth the size of the battery on the monstrous Hummer EV. That means fewer emissions in making the battery, and fewer rare minerals to mine and extract. READ MORE