Why fumes are important
Are we interested in what comes out of our car exhaust pipes - and should we be? Rob Maetzig asks that question in his review of the smallest Lexus hybrid.
The other day I had an interesting email conversation with a reader who questioned why I had not included fuel economy and CO2 emissions figures in an article on the launch of a new Suzuki hatchback.
It was a bit of a telling-off. ‘‘This is 2018,’’ she wrote. ‘‘We need to know, in fact we want to know, the fuel efficiency of these
CO2 emitters that keep filling up our car yards across the country so we can make informed decisions in our purchasing.’’
Really interesting point, that. The article in question was about the new Suzuki Swift Sport, and in it I had provided all the details about the car’s engine power and torque and how quickly it can scoot to 100kmh – but nothing about how much fuel it uses and how much greenhouse gas it emits.
For the record, the Swift Sport has an official average fuel economy of 6.1L/100km, and the
CO2 emissions are 141g/km. The episode set me thinking. In today’s motoring environment, are fuel economy figures and CO2 emissions assuming greater importance? Are Mr and Mrs Average Motorist taking exhaust fumes into account more these days when making their buying decisions?
And, as a consequence, should the motoring media be putting more emphasis on environmental matters in reviews of the latest product?
The answer to all of that is yes. Emissions – or the lack of them – are the primary reason why a growing number of motorists are buying electric vehicles. It’s certainly not for their convenience, because at the moment their lack of range is a pain.
Example: the other day I read of the adventures of a couple who drove their used import Nissan Leaf from New Plymouth to Ohakune and back, and how many times they had to stop to recharge. They had a lot of fun and were proud of their achievement, but to me the trip represented excruciatingly slow going.
But importantly, during that journey no fumes came out of any exhaust pipes – something that couldn’t have been said of just about every other vehicle that would have been on the roads that weekend.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas – so called because scientists believe it affects our climate by trapping heat escaping from the Earth’s surface and reflecting it back down in what is known as a ‘‘greenhouse effect’’.
The burning of fossil fuels, primarily for transport, is by far the biggest producer of CO2. Latest figures I could find suggest that something in the region of 35 billion tonnes of the stuff is emitted from vehicle exhaust pipes every year. That’s an enormous amount – and that’s why governments all over the world are setting tough new exhaust emission standards aimed at reducing CO2 emissions.
The car makers themselves are working to tougher new standards, too. Not only are they decreasing average exhaust emissions from their vehicles by making their internal combustion engines far more efficient and via such innovations as smallercapacity turbocharged engines, but they are also working to electrify everything.
A classic example is Toyota Motor Corporation which aims to have by 2025 every model in the Toyota and Lexus lineup available as either a dedicated electric model or have an electrified option. This will include hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, and fuel-cell electric vehicles.
It just so happened that at the time I had my email conversation with our reader over the issue of fuel economy and exhaust emission figures, I was driving an example of the vehicle that began the trend towards electrification – a hybrid.
Toyota launched its first Prius hybrid back in 1997, and since then it has sold close to 11 million Toyota and Lexus hybrids – and their day-to-day use has resulted in close to 80 million fewer tonnes of CO2 going into the atmosphere. By around 2030, Toyota plans to be selling more than 5.5 million electrified vehicles a year, including more than 1 million zero-emission battery-electric and fuel cell electric cars.
The hybrid I was driving was a Lexus CT200h which, like the Prius, has been around for a while. Seven years in fact – it is built on the same platform and has the same hybrid technology as the previous-generation Prius – and during that time it has undergone various facelifts to keep it relevant in the face of increasing competition from other electrified models, particularly plug-in electric hybrids that are capable of running further as pure electric cars before having to revert to being a hybrid.
The latest facelift has involved giving it sportier styling, interior updates, better equipment, and improved value for money.
There have been various cosmetic changes, including a new Lexus grille, and the CT now has better safety specification via its Lexus Safety System+, which includes such features as a precollision system with autonomous braking, dynamic radar cruise control, and lane departure warning with steering control.
Our review car was a $62,690 F Sport version that has various black elements to reinforce its sporty nature. It includes black metallic paint on its mesh-pattern spindle grille. It also has 17-inch dark metallic alloys, and the interior has two-tone leather accents. It all adds up to an appealing car with an especially appealing interior.
The CT200h has a 1.8-litre petrol engine that combines with the Lexus Hybrid Drive system to offer a system output of 100kW. It all works its series parallel hybrid magic to boast an official average fuel consumption of 4.1L/100km which gives a CO2 output of
94g/km.
While that isn’t as good as the latest-generation Toyota Prius hybrid, which offers 3.4L/100km and 80g/km, it’s better than a Corolla hatch that is powered by a
1.8-litre engine which emits
143g/km.
At seven years old, this Lexus is beginning to show its age in more ways than one.
The body design is getting dated, and while from equipment and specification points of view it represents good value for the money for a prestige compact car, its hybrid electric technology is now being overtaken by more modern full battery electric and plug-in hybrid systems.
Here’s an important point, though. Right from the start of the hybrid era, it was always acknowledged that the petrolelectric technology would be a stop-gap measure until the advent of EVs and PHEVs.
That’s now happening – and I suppose that means it’s the beginning of the end for hybrids, just like it could be said that vehicles that run on fossil fuels are now moving into their twilight years.
Still, I don’t think we should ever underestimate the contribution hybrid technology has made to motoring.
It’s been the pathfinder for electrification of cars, and in doing so it’s played its part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
And even now, hybrids still emit less CO2 than conventional cars.
As far as I’m concerned, that still makes the now-ageing CT200h an environmental winner.