By Derryn Wong

IT’S BEEN A bumper week for greenie-motorists with the launch of two alternative propulsion vehicles right here in Singapore. ‘Alternative propulsion’ refers to vehicles, which use anything other than gasoline to power their forward motion.

The first one out is Audi’s A5 coupe, debuted on June 16. While already launched last year with petrol engines, it’s now available with a 3.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine, which marks the first diesel passenger car offered here from Audi.

The second is more familiar – it’s the newest, third-generation Toyota Prius was launched on June 19 by local Toyota dealers Borneo Motors. As the car of choice for environmentally-conscious Hollywood celebrities and with more than a million units sold globally, it needs little introduction.

How important these vehicles are for each brand respectively goes far beyond mere sales figures – they are also vital building blocks to brand perception by the public. With both cars touting high efficiency and (in the Audi’s case) high-performance, we’ve decided to go the whole hog and bring you up to speed on the state of alternative propulsion here and the hard facts behind buying one.

And while common perceptions might suggest that hybrids are the default choice for someone who wants to get the most out of their fuel tank, as well as minimising their carbon footprint, the facts are quite surprising.

HYBRID: How it works

A hybrid car works with both a regular gasoline motor in tandem with an electric motor and battery pack. To put it simply, a hybrid car is able to reclaim the energy normally wasted, such as in slowing down or during braking, and convert that into electrical energy. Most modern hybrids use the electric motor for low speed and shut off their engines in start-stop traffic, during braking or coasting the motor also charges the battery. At higher speeds (usually above walking speed) the engine is used, with the motor for added torque, and this motion also charges the battery. The Prius is a parallel hybrid, as the electric motor can work independently of the engine. Honda’s Civic hybrid uses a more simple parallel system, where the engine and motor is always linked.

Prius: What’s new

One of the biggest complaints about the old Prius was that it was an amazingly frugal machine but little else, falling far short of the regular gasoline competition in terms of driving fun.

The biggest change is to the hybrid system, what Toyota term’s its ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’, with most of the components (more than 80 percent) upgraded and a new 1.8-litre engine in place of the old 1.5-litre unit.

There’s also increased chassis stiffness and reduced weight through use of aluminium and high-tensile steel. While the platform is claimed to be all-new, it’s likely a development of the old one considering the identical wheelbase.

Improvements to the exterior and interior styling are quite obvious, with the new car looking much more futuristic and up to its status as a hybrid figurehead. Not found in the old car is a three-mode power switch, which can be toggled between completely electric (range-limited), economy and power drive modes.

Real life:

Pros

1. It really is amazingly fuel-efficient
Manufacturer’s fuel consumption figures are usually very optimistic but in the case of the Prius it’s not just wishful thinking. We’ve personally test-drove a second-generation Prius to see how far we got before running out of fuel in its 45 litre tank (same as the new one) – we reached 1,100km and gave up. The new one will undoubtedly do the same, or better.

2. Green credentials
Toyota has built itself a stand-alone brand name with the Prius and arguably few other cars can project a green image for you, if that sort of thing is important to you. It also emits much less C02 than a normal sedan. The new Prius significantly betters the old one on emissions – the best hybrids and cleanest modern diesels usually get scores below 100g/km. The Honda is a particularly clean example too – most cars in its class have emissions around the 180-200g/km range.

3. Excellent in the city
Stop and go driving is where the most fuel is wasted and it’s here that a hybrid really shines – the air conditioning and other systems run off the battery while the engine is shut off until needed so you can idle guilt-free.

4. Green car rebates
Since 2001, buyers of green cars (hybrids, compressed natural gas (CNG), bi-fuel (petrol/CNG) or electric) get 40 percent off their Additional Registration Fee (ARF), the single biggest tax on a car. Currently it’s 100 percent of the vehicle’s open market value (OMV), so greenies only pay 60 percent.

Cons

1. Hybrids are pricey
As you can see from the chart, the Prius costs a lot more than a regular gasoline car. Keep in mind the Honda Civic 1.8 costs more than its rivals, and was priced around $75,000 after the previous round of COE bidding. Currently a Toyota Corolla Altis only costs $77,988 with COE now.

2. Not so electrifying to drive
While Lexus’ powerful hybrids like the GS 450h offer big acceleration, the Prius isn’t one of those luxury hybrids and makes do with less performance and involvement in terms of driving dynamics, due to design and packaging problems. The wires, computers and batteries all have to go somewhere…

3. Technologically complex
Hybrids contain advanced technology under the hood and the Prius is no different – that’s why they are so expensive. Owning such a advanced vehicle poses some risks as you can’t service it anywhere else during a breakdown and some have suggested risk of electrocution to rescue crews in an accident. In Singapore, and what with Toyota/Borneo Motors excellent service records this won’t be a problem, but abroad it could mean different.