Originally, it started as an engineering concept at the start of the 21st century. Gas-Electric “hybrid” cars were the dream of the modern day society and they were displayed at auto shows to gauge public reaction and market potential. Yet within a few years alone ( a small wink in the vehicle industry), hybrids have evolved into one of today’s most important automotive trends. Electronic components have really developed over the last ten years and are now more geared than ever to accommodate for the ‘greener solutions of our time. Every bit of a car from basic fuses to solenoids have been updated and modified to be friendlier for the environment. Numerous other components have come into play in the advancement of this technology, but one element in particular, copper, has been indispensable in helping to propel the growth of hybrid vehicles.
According to General Motors Chief Engineer, Time Grew, “Copper has two important roles in hybrids: It runs the electricity, so you have large amounts of copper in the motor and battery, and, more importantly, the copper technology is making hybrids viable commercially”. Fortunately enough, hybrids have come into the market in a big way. People are more than keen to get their first hybrid car and contribute to saving the world’s energy resources.
These days there are not many cars that are not hybrid cars really. Car companies have a responsibility to now be far more conscious about polluting the planet. It is interesting to try and comprehend where technology will be this time in a decade or so. Will our vehicles be even more energy efficient? Only time will tell but I am sure that automotive technology will have a lot of surprises for us up their sleeve. It simply depends on what is going to be viable from a commercial and marketing point of view.
March 10 2009
Why it might be better not to own a car
Tagged Under : car contract hire, cars, contract hire, driving
Over the last couple of weeks the UK has been hit with some of the most extreme weather we’ve had in a long time. The first week of February brought the heaviest snowfall we’ve seen for 18 years, causing schools to close and leaving over 6 million people stranded unable to get to work. Most public transport was disrupted or cancelled completely, and many roads were deemed unsafe and closed off due to the icy conditions.
The continuing bad weather is a real worry for drivers, with an increased risk of accidents on the icy roads as well as other problems caused by the extreme conditions. There have been a number of incidents of sudden heavy snowfall trapping drivers in their cars, while in other parts of the country the melting snow has been replaced with heavy rains and severe flood warnings have been issued on the roads.
All this is bad news for car owners, not just because of the heightened personal risk of driving on the roads, but also because a damaged car is a costly business. With the recession, most people just couldn’t afford to splash out on a new car if something were to happen to theirs. And this is the real problem with owning a car. It’s brilliant until something goes wrong, then it can just become really expensive. You might think it won’t happen to you, that you’re a good driver who won’t get into that sort of situation. But as the last few weeks have proved you can’t always help what happens on the roads, and you certainly can’t predict it.
The problem is that once you have paid for a car it becomes entirely your responsibility. Then the car is more likely to go wrong the older it gets, especially in extreme weather conditions like those we have been experiencing, and the more money you’ll have to shell out when it does. And even when you do get it fixed, it still won’t be worth half what you paid for it in the first place as a car only ever decreases its value over time.
The people who manage to avoid these worries are those who opt for a car contract hire deal instead of buying a car outright. It doesn’t mean the car isn’t yours, it just means that you pay for it in regular monthly instalments and often you get extra benefits thrown in like road tax and servicing costs. So if something was to happen, you wouldn’t have to foot the whole bill yourself. And the best thing is that when the contract hire expires after a couple of years you can trade the car in for a new one, meaning you’ve always got the latest updated model. And as you’ll always be driving a new car, it won’t have had time to wear out, and is less likely to break down in the first place!