What's a green car like to drive? Here - have a go
An initiative launched in Melbourne aims to foster familiarity and interest in low-emission cars by giving drivers first-hand experience at the wheel of 17 different modelsIn the West's push to cut automotive emissions, Australia sits somewhere towards the back of the field. At an average age of over ten years, the local car fleet is old by Western world standards. While public sector fleet buyers have been doing their bit, private buyers have not rushed at low emission models, and federal and state governments have been less than diligent in pushing incentive legislation through their respective parliaments.
But if a new initiative launched this week in Melbourne is anything to go by, we may be awakening. Melbourne Lord Mayor Cr Robert Doyle launched a test drive program aimed at assuaging consumer suspicion about LEVs by simply giving them a go.
The Melbourne Green Zone Drive event, running from October 1-8, gives Melburnians the opportunity to book test drives in 17 hybrid and diesel vehicles from Audi, BMW, Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, MINI, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Volvo, plus Mitsubishi's all-electric i-MiEV, the first mainstream EV to go on sale in Australia. The Blade Electron Mk V, an Australian engineered electric car, will also be available to drive.
The project, claiming to be the first of its type in the world, works through the Melbourne Green Zone Drive website. The concept is simple: if you're curious about what these vehicles are like to drive, book a test of any of the vehicles and take them for a spin around Green Zone's Docklands circuit.
The event has found support from the RACV, Victorian Department of Transport, Future Climate Australia, EPA Victoria, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Global Fuel Economy Initiative, which aims to halve automotive CO2 emissions by 2050.
Christopher Zinn, spokesman for consumer lobby group Choice, says the organisation is enthusiastic about the initiative.
"Allowing the consumer to physically see and test the cars is a world leading idea and I applaud the Melbourne Green Zone for offering Victorians the chance," he said in a statement.
The list of available vehicles includes light, small and medium models:
- Audi A4 2.0 TDI and A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI
- BMW 320d and X1 2.0d
- Citroen C4 Picasso and C5 2.0 diesel
- Ford Fiesta ECOnetic and Mondeo TDCi
- Hyundai i20 petrol and Santa Fe CRDi
- MINI Cooper D
- Mitsubishi i-MiEV and ASX diesel
- Toyota Hybrid Camry and Prius
- Volvo C30 DRIVe
Booking a turn at the wheel of any of the cars is simply a matter of visiting GreenZoneDrive.com.au and following the instructions. You can also book on specification when you visit, in which case it's a matter of taking what you can get, with bookings subject to availability.
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