Visitors to the popular advisory website, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk have revealed that they believe electricity could be the fuel of the future for their cars.When asked “Is electricity a viable solution to fossil fuels?”, a staggering 93 per cent agreed that electricity could offer a real alternative to fossil fuels. However opinion divided over how the electricity should be generated, 49 per cent believed that it needed to be generated from renewable sources, whereas 44 per cent thought electricity was a viable solution for cars regardless of the originating source. Only a tiny seven per cent thought that electricity was not a suitable solution to fossil fuels for transport use. While the debate rages about electric cars and precisely what environmental benefit they have, the response from TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk visitors mirrors the wider social confusion over CO2 emissions, air pollutants and environmental impact. While electric vehicles boast the advantage of having no direct emissions and therefore reducing localised air pollution and localised emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides (NOx), traditional engines still have some advantages. Traditional combustion engines use a direct energy source making it easier to calculate their grams per kilometre of CO2. The end CO2 emissions for electric vehicles are more complex and are determined by the source the electricity is generated from. Electric vehicles and conventional petrol and diesel vehicles are improving in efficiency all the time, so the debate becomes more complex. Exact generation sources of electricity vary widely, from year to year and from country to country. The Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) reports that UK electricity production in 2007 was 77 per cent generated from coal and gas. While it is unclear whether renewables alone could meet current energy demands, licensed electricity suppliers are committed to meet the UK’s Renewables Obligation of 15.4 per cent of electricity produced from renewable sources by 2015/16. How the car industry will respond to the challenge of returning maximum miles for minimum energy input is still being decided. In meantime support for electric cars has so far provided a market opening for a host of new car brands, from G-Wiz to Tesla. The results of TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk poll show that although consumers may have high expectations for the greening of electricity production, public belief in the environmental potential of the electric car is still very much alive.“Our poll has shown that motorists are keen to ensure they minimise their environmental impact. The UK needs to meet its Renewables Obligation to allow electric cars to achieve their true potential as low-carbon vehicles” says Faye Sunderland of TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk.