Rudd's green car

The Rudd government wants to cut government spending but they can still find $500 million to spend on a Australian green car. And it’s a hybrid too.

Industry Minister Kim Carr is overseeing work on an election promise to create the car, which could rival other successful energy-efficient models such as the Toyota Prius,

The Government has pledged to put in half a billion dollars to create Green Car Partnership over a five year period from 2011.

Senator Carr said: "This fund will generate $2 billion in investment to develop and build fuel-efficient cars in Australia and will be developed in consultation with the sector as part of the upcoming review of the auto industry.

Why? Hybrids are petrol cars with an electric motor and battery pack to extend range. They are about conservation, all they do is extend our use of oil not replace it. Having both an IC engine and electric engine they are more expensive and complicated. No wonder motorist have been wary of them.

Australians have been slow to embrace green cars. There are not any manufactured here and only 3200 hybrids were sold in 2006.

Substitution is the key not conservation. I’m a great believer in flex fuel cars that can run on alcohol as well as petrol but even this compressed air Noddy car makes more sense to me.