New research from Honda has found that 50 per cent of motorists have never heard of a hybrid car, while many don't realise that the driver does not have to switch between petrol and electric power.

The RAC Foundation, which believes that encouraging green technology such as hybrid cars and an education programme to promote eco-driving would be a good way to cut CO2 emissions from transport, wants to explode such myths.

According to the research, as many as 70 per cent of people admitted they did not know how a hybrid car works.

Hybrids work by utilising an electric motor that is regenerated when the car decelerates. The electric energy assists the engine during acceleration and when the car is idling, curbing exhaust emissions. The car does not need to be charged up by the owner.

Speaking at the launch of the new Honda Civic Hybrid, RAC Foundation executive director Edmund King said that many people wanted to help save the environment, but ignorance of the real facts meant this rarely translated into behavioural change.

"We need to close the attitude-action gap by encouraging motorists to opt for cleaner, greener cars and adapt our driving styles to radically reduce pollution," he said.

"Our motoring vision of the future does not include Dan Dare and the Jetsons in their flying cars, but it does involve technologically advanced hybrid cars as a longer-term stepping stone to the zero emissions hydrogen fuel cell car."


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