It has been claimed that the days of completely emission-free cars are still a long way into the future.

According to a report from Reuters, the possibility of companies switching over to fuel cell and other clean energy vehicles completely is still something which is many years away, because the internal combustion engine still has a stranglehold on the industry.

Thomas Weber, head of research at DaimlerChrysler, explained that it would take "decades" for the company to replace its 900 million passenger vehicles and light trucks currently on the road with fuel cell alternatives.

Even this approach may not prove effective because the manufacturers may not have the production capacity to be able to adequately replace all the old combustion engine vehicles.

Instead, Mr Weber suggested that the more realistic approach to tackling emissions would be to continue introducing tougher limits, forcing companies to improve their combustion engines until they are as close to zero emissions as possible.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd