Getting steamed up about green cars

It seems that every press release that lands in my inbox these days has some sort of green angle. I reckon even the spin doctors at Ford would find a way to tell me the Mustang is just as environmentally sound as driving a Prius if they thought they could get away with it. (How about their 80mpg Focus ECOnetic? – ed)

But bigger cars are getting greener - just in the last week, I’ve written about the greener Citroen DS5 and Porsche Panamera Diesel, with a diesel hybrid powertrain option and a diesel engine with great fuel economy respectively. Even Jag has gotten in on the act with the 2012 XF coming with the option of a 52mpg diesel.

It’s all good news but the funny thing is that eco-friendly motoring is not exactly new. If the petrol-powered internal combustion engine hadn’t overtaken early attempts at steam, electric and diesel power, automakers might not be back at square one today desperately trying to find ways to make cars that either burn less gasoline or don’t use it at all.

Indeed, on the weekend just gone, it wasn’t just the horses and carriages of the royal wedding being used as a petrol-free means of transport. A half-hour train ride to Hemel Hempstead would have taken post-wedding revellers to the Spirit of Dacorum charity rally. The event has raised money for charity since 2009 and this year looks like it’ll be another bumper haul.

Among the cars taking part was a 1903 Stanley Steam Wagon. While she won’t be breaking any land speed records, she worked damn hard shipping people and luggage to a hotel in the Rocky Mountains way back in the day and, 108 years later, she held her own in the Spirit of Dacorum drive.

On display at the rally was a 1901 Toledo, another steam-powered car. Last weekend, she was on show rather than on the road, but she still goes and was driven in the last London to Brighton rally.

My point is that while the Stanley and the Toledo are not fitted out with the bells and whistles of the Panamera, Jag XF or DS5, they are proof that we could have come a lot further with zero-emission cars if history had’ve been kinder to steam engines, not to mention electric cars and diesels.

I am definitely tickled by the thought of today’s sports cars running at high speeds on highly sophisticated steam engines. More likely, however, is hybrid technology to buy the automakers some time before the oil runs out and electric cars - with the likes of Tesla doing their darnedest to make electric sexy as well as speedy.

For now, the steam cars of the Spirit of Dacorum are a curiosity from days gone by, but who knows? Maybe there was a wide-eyed child lurking around, an engineer of the future, who was inspired by the Stanley and the Toledo. With the unpredictable nature of developments in motoring, maybe one day someone will look to those two old beauties for inspiration and zero emission steam cars will be the new Prius. Stranger things have happened - we now have four-door Porsches...



A 1903 Stanley Steam Wagon no less. Over 100 years ago and boffins had already started the search for eco-friendly transport - they just didn't know it



The Toledo steam-powered car from way back in 1901. Weren't we were still riding donkeys in 1901!



80mpg Ford Focus ECOnetic. With fuel prices only ever climbing it won't be long before this is the hot Focus seller



Citroen's funky DS5 was been deigned from the start with hybrid tech and long economy in mind



A 45mpg Porsche? Who'd of thunk it? Panamera Diesel coming this year



The latest Jaguar XF gets an entry-level, 2.2-litre diesel and a fresh face. Should sell like hot-Jag-cakes


www.spiritofdacorum.com


By Georgia Lewis

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