Hybrid Living

As GM gets ready to introduce the Chevy VOLT to Europe as the Vauxhall Ampera, this article by ENN Affiliate the Ecologist examines some background, and why this car really IS a game changer. From fossil fuel generated electricity to unreliable batteries, electric cars haven't always lived up to the hype. But with the launch of the Vauxhall Ampera, could all that be about to change? Ruth Styles reports I'm sitting in a huge, futuristic-white room in the Louwman Museum in The Hague when suddenly the back wall swings up to reveal a shiny crimson car. It rolls forward silently before coming to a halt in front of a room packed with journalists. This, the Ampera, say its makers, Vauxhall, is the future of eco-friendly motoring and a good-looking beast to boot. Good looks, I thought. Well yes, OK. But eco-friendly? How eco-friendly can driving really be? The Louwman Museum was the perfect place to find out. The Hague's Louwman Museum is dedicated to cars past and present with the odd plane or two to spice things up. The museum's restaurant is located in a vast hangar-like space tricked out to resemble a turn-of-the-century Dutch town, complete with perfectly realised replicas of a plate-glass fronted haberdashery, a grocer and an impressive recreation of a neo-Palladian town hall facade.