8 eco-conscious cars

Air pollution has become a greater health risk than cigarette smoking. According to ScienceDaily, a European Heart Journal confirmed in a study that air pollution kills 8.8 million people a year.  The shift towards a greener motoring landscape has resulted in hybrid and electric becoming the new standard of motoring propulsion. We list 8 eco-conscious cars available in South Africa.

Toyota Prius

The new eco-conscious Toyota Prius has a petrol-electric drivetrain with a 1.8-litre engine boasting 100 kW, which is enough to deal with mountain passes and everyday traffic. Fuel consumption is claimed at 3.7 l/100km, with CO₂ emissions of 87 g/km. Toyota offers an 8-year warranty on the hybrid battery.

BMW 7 Series e-Hybrid

The all-wheel drive BMW 740e xDrive is an iPerformance plug-in hybrid. It has a 2.0-litre turbo-charged four-cylinder engine with an electric-motor producing a combined 322 kW. BMW claims a fuel consumption of 2.1 litres/100km with a CO₂ emission of 49 g/km.

Audi e-tron

Audi’s eco-conscious first Electric Vehicle, the e-tron, has staggering performance credibility. Powered by two-electric motors generating 265 kW and 561Nm in normal driving mode, and 300 kW/ 664 Nm when driving in dynamic mode. When an e-tron is charged overnight, drivers can easily get a range of 400km. The motor of the e-tron is CO₂ neutral and fairly silent. The e-tron has been confirmed for South Africa’s market, we should be seeing them on our roads any day now.

BMW i3

The BMW i3 is powered by an electric motor and high-voltage battery, boasting 125 kW with a range of 290 – 300km. It comes with a range-extender increasing the range by 150 km to a maximum of 330 km. The i3 range-extender claims a fuel consumption of 0.6 l/100km according to BMW, that’s eco-conscious.

Jaguar I-Pace

The electric all-wheel drive I-Pace crossover SUV is powered by electric motors driving the front as well as the rear wheels with an impressive 294 kW. The 90 kW battery is capable of rapid charging that will obtain an 80% charge in 45 minutes using a 100 kW charger. The I-Pace has a total range of about 480km and is expected to only need a charge once a week. There are 22 charging stations along the N3 between Gauteng and Durban, the N1 between Gauteng and Cape Town. Cape Town too will be connected to the Garden Route where charging stations will be available on the N2 all the way to East London.

Porsche Taycan

The Porsche Taycan has two-electric motors fed by a battery pack of 4-volt cells with a range of 500 km. The battery pack has the ability to be charged fast to 400 km in just 15 minutes. The combined-power output of the electric motors powers the front and rear wheels allowing the car to have an all-wheel drive layout producing a total amount of 440 kW. The Taycan was introduced in September 2019 and will be launched onto the market at the end of 2019.

Lexus UX

The Lexus UX 250h SE is a petrol-electric hybrid. It has 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine boasting a total of 135 kW. The 43-litre tank claims a fuel consumption of 4.5 l/100km and a range of 956km. The total emission for the Lexus UX is 103 g/km.

Citroen C1

This little hatchback can be bought with a 5-speed semi-automatic transmission or manual 5-speed gearbox and has a 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine and claims 4.7 l/100km fuel consumption.

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