Diesel, Petrol, Electric or Hybrid, What are the advantages of each?

We recently did a post on things to consider when choosing a company car. Our first tip was the check the engine. We felt this deserved an article of its own to help you choose Diesel, Petrol, Electric or Hybrid.

Diesel engines offer a great fuel economy, providing drivers with 25% to 30% better fuel usage on average compared to petrol engines on long journeys. It is not just petrol engines that diesel vehicles offer a better fuel economy compared to, petrol-electric hybrids fall short too. This is because diesel is one of the most efficient fuels available. Diesel engines don’t have any distributors or spark plugs so the engines don’t have to go in for ignition tune-ups.

Petrol engines are cheaper to buy than diesel cars are and tend to have quieter engines and less vibration than diesel vehicles. They can also be cheaper to maintain and service than diesel vehicles. Petrol tends to be a much cheaper fuel to buy than diesel at the petrol station so if you don’t drive your vehicle very much; petrol vehicles are much cheaper to run.

Electric cars are quiet and quick vehicles so that they offer a very smooth ride compared to other vehicles. They are also cheaper to run than other vehicles as electricity is much cheaper to produce than petrol or diesel. You can also recharge your electric vehicle at home, meaning you don’t have to go out to refuel. And as they have no carbon emissions, you don’t have to pay any road tax on most electric vehicles. But, although increasing, the number of charging points in the country are few and far between. Unfortunately if you are doing long distances, electric cars are probably not an option for you.

Hybrid vehicles combine the positive aspects of the petrol engine with the positive aspects of the electric car. They produce lower CO2 emissions than petrol and diesel vehicles so the road tax is lower than other vehicles of the same size. There are also lots of different credit incentives to help purchase hybrid cars, which makes buying them cheaper than buying a diesel or petrol vehicle.