Horse Power

We once gave a temporary home to a motor-bike that was being sold by someone who was emigrating. It was exactly this colour. Our neighbour was both a biker and a wheeler-dealer, with the patter to buy and sell anything. He came around to satisfy his curiosity (about either the bike or the price - I can't remember). "Oh look", he chortled, "My favourite colour: 'Depreciation Yellow'". Hmm

A friend took me on a journey in his new car a few weeks ago. He declared that it is a "hybrid". I took a couple of guesses at what that means, both wrong. This is not a car that switches from being driven by batteries/electric motor to being driven by a petrol engine when the batteries are flat. Nor is it a car that is basically electric, but with a small onboard petrol generator to top up the batteries if they get critically low

Rather, it is a car with no significant battery and no facility to plug in. The external fuel is petrol; the petol drives an engine that is permanently on, at more-or-less constant speed, driving an electric generator. The generator feeds an electric motor that drives the wheels and is controlled by the driver via the accelerator pedal

Maybe I'm naïve and not paying attention, to be ignorant that this is a live concept on the road. I'm not sure to what extent it 'counts' as an electric car when meeting the thresholds manufacturers must satisfy, the charges in low emission zones or the tax benefits of electric vehicles

As green technology, I think it's nonsense. It burns petrol to turn wheels, just like this one (and ours, also visible). He says it's a bit more fuel efficient, and it "drives like an electric car". In time, I think it will be remembered with scorn as the worst of all possible worlds - a by-product of legislative inconsistencies during a period of transition. A 'depreciation anachronism'. I didn't say all this while I was accepting the lift!