Environmentally Friendly Vehicles – Pros and Cons

When it comes to things we care about most in life, our environment is on just about everyone’s top ten list.  By considering how our vehicles affect the environment along with dedicating time and resources to build more fuel efficient vehicles and decrease our harmful emissions, we are doing our part to take responsibility in keeping mother earth alive and well for generations to come.

Flex Fuel- one such vehicle is our flex fuel models.  These vehicles are capable of handling fuel that has ethanol content up to 85%.  

• Pros- Ethanol is considered a renewable fuel and is thereby considered a more sustainable fuel source.  

• Cons- Your fuel economy may actually be less than using regular gasoline and you may not save much at the pump per gallon either.

CNG Cars – CNG stands for “Concentrated Natural Gas”.  

• Pros – CNG is the cleanest burning alternative fuel in the market today. CNG is right up there with gasoline as far as fuel economy per gallon is concerned.   

• Cons - You might find a hard time finding a place that offers a CNG fuel station.  CNG can cost more per gallon than gasoline.

Hybrid Cars – These are currently the most popular environmentally friendly vehicles on the road today.  

• Pros - Hybrid vehicles use a combination of electricity and gasoline, run by a computer to help improve fuel economy.  For example, you lose much of your fuel economy when idling.  Hybrid cars are designed to run completely on electricity at this stage and therefore save fuel.  In the case of the Toyota Prius, it achieves economy up to 50 mpg.  They also have other features such as regenerative braking which uses the energy lost from normal braking and instead, stores that energy into a battery in your car, and thus enhances the distance you can drive. 

• Cons - Hybrids have had trouble with their batteries in the past.  If you have to replace the batteries within the first few years of ownership, you may have just lost all of the money you saved in fuel efficiency. More recently these problems have been corrected with battery redesign.

Electric Cars- Electric cars are catching on more and more as we seek to use various alternative energy sources to power our vehicles. 

• Pros - Zero emissions and cost of fuel can be half or less than gasoline.   

• Cons – Electric cars are limited in how far you can go in the car. Also, charging the battery takes much longer than fueling up at the pump. For city driving, these cars are perfect.

These are just a few of the options available to you from the Olympia Auto Mall. The Olympia Auto Mall has over 12 dealerships representing 21 different brands that each offer eco conscious vehicles to align with your values and needs.

Come and test drive one of our models today!  

If you are looking for new or used cars in Olympia, Wa come visit the Olympia Auto Mall.  Our expert staff and friendly environment will help you find the vehicle that’s right for you!

The Olympia Auto Mall – Washington's Largest!!!