Claims about environmental benefits of hybrid vehicles 'greenwashing'

Electric vehicle expert says hybrids are still dependent on fossil fuels and produce harmful emissions

'Hybrid manufacturers are trying to tap into the incredibly high demand for fully electric vehicles by marketing them as something they are not.'

Questionable claims from car manufacturers about hybrid vehicles and their benefits to the environment must be called out for the "greenwashing" that they are, environmental campaigners have said.

After leading Irish environmental campaigning journalist John Gibbons asked Twitter users for examples of corporate firms boosting their environmental credentials by using cherry-picked data and unproven claims, carmakers were among those singled out. 

Electric vehicle expert Tom Spencer pointed to what he called the myth of the hybrid car to offset emissions, which led to a response from Toyota Ireland's Twitter account insisting its claims were based on sound data.

Speaking further to the Irish Examiner, Mr Spencer, editor of consumer advice website IrishEVs.com, said: "Toyota, like many car brands, has long engaged in a greenwashing exercise to pass off hybrids as a climate-friendly choice, but the reality is that they are still dependent on fossil fuels and still produce the same harmful emissions that worsen the climate crisis and human health.

Without transparency and independent verification of the health and ecological implications of these vehicles, we cannot make progress on tackling the climate crisis.

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So-called 'greenwashing' is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound.

Earlier this year, an EU-wide consumer probe found almost half (42%) of websites and shopping portals contained false or deceptive claims.

IrishEVs.com has published a guide on claims made by car manufacturers in general in relation to hybrid vehicles, and whether their claims stand up to scrutiny.

Hybrid manufacturers are trying to tap into the incredibly high demand for fully electric vehicles by marketing them as something they are not, it said.

They have at least 40% to 70% of the emissions of a petrol or diesel car, and will have created 15% more emissions in its manufacture than a battery electric vehicle would have, according to a study by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership in collaboration with Ricardo, IrishEVs.com said.

There are very few academic studies on how long hybrids spend in electric mode that are not funded by a car manufacturer — so it is difficult to give real-world figures, IrishEVs warned.

"If you are covering any distance in a hybrid outside a gridlocked town, you might as well be driving a petrol or diesel car due to the emissions you’re creating," it said.

Toyota Ireland claims that studies have shown that in a combination of motorway and urban driving, its hybrids spent over 62% of the time driving fully electric, producing zero emissions. 

Supporters of hybrid cars say plug-in hybrids, when the electrics are used as the primary source followed by fossil fuels, are far less damaging than cars fully fuelled by petrol and diesel. 

They are a better option for people before committing to fully electric vehicles in the future, industry figures have said.

Toyota Ireland was contacted for comment, but had not responded by the time of going to print.