More car chit chat

Following on from a recent car chit chat post, I just wanted to add a few more things.  This includes friends doing their “bit for the planet” and buying new electric cars and also whether it is more cost effective to buy E5 petrol.

Some of our friends recently announced they were buying themselves each an electric car, I suppose his and her cars.  Apparently the justification for this was doing their “….bit for the planet”.

Now call me naive if you want but I would have thought it best not to rush into this electric car malarky at the moment.  If you have a perfectly decent car already, why change it?  I suppose someone would want to get rid of a car if it was becoming unreliable, or very expensive to maintain, or perhaps because you don’t need such a big car anymore.  Other than that, why change?  I just don’t get it.

Later in the conversation, I asked if doing their bit could involve buying a bicycle.  This didn’t exactly go down very well.  Then something was said about wanting to have two nice new cars on the drive way.  At that point I thought “that’s it, I get it and see what’s going on”.

The answer is, of course, the prestige of having a pair of nice new cars on the driveway and I do wonder what the kindest thing to say in those circumstances.  Sure there is an argument for driving an electric car; no nasty emissions, helping push demand for electric cars which in turn finances more development which is needed in the medium term.

On the other hand, what happens to their old cars?  Scrapped before their time is really up?  Fuelling unnecessary consumerism?  I just wonder if the greenest thing to do is keep a well maintained car on the road for as long as possible.  This means one less car has to be manufactured for the time being, including mining all that lithium for the battery.  If we can make our cars last 20 years or more, wouldn’t that be a good thing?

Making a car last a long time is all very well but if it is a diesel car, well that’s another thing.  All that nasty black smoke which comes out of them, cough cough.  Perhaps they ought to go and keep the petrol cars running for as long as possible.

E5 and E10 petrol

Okay, so those of us who drive petrol powered cars here in the UK buy either E5 or E10.

E10 petrol includes 10% ethanol so slightly greener and cheaper. It is said 95% of cars can run off E10, general exceptions being older cars.

Alternatively E5 petrol (higher octane, 10% more expensive).

Now without being too nerdy, I found my fuel consumption fell when I used the new E10 compared to the old standard unleaded petrol.  After a few tankfuls of the more expensive E5 petrol, I found the fuel consumption improved and the engine seemed to run a little smoother.  You also get extra points with the BP loyalty card.  The engine also gets treated to extra detergents to keep everything nice and clean inside, so a better fuel in some ways and this will help the longevity of the car.

I am TEMPTED to stick with E5 but I’m not convinced I’m doing the right thing.  I would love to know the answer…..

Here’s my older blog post, when these new fuels were being introduced – click here