Commissioners revved up for greener motoring

Stavros Dimas drove back from Strasbourg last week in a new green car. Although actually more silver in colour, the environment commis-sioner's Toyota Prius had the green credentials to go with his job.
“He is delighted with the new car,” said Dimas's spokeswoman. “It was recommended to him as the most environmentally fri-endly vehicle on offer today.”
The choice of car follows months of accusations that the Commission is not practising what it preaches. The emissions from the commissioners' cars average 251 grams per kilometre (g/km), though the Commission plans to make car manufacturers cut average emissions from new vehicles to 120 g/km.
In the end he followed an example set by Hollywood stars such as Leonardo di Caprio and Orlando Bloom and chose the Japanese Prius, with its average emissions of 104g/km.
Dimas of course did not have many models of Greek cars to choose from but German Günter Verheugen, the commissioner for enterprise and industry, clearly feels an obligation to support his home country. A Commission official confirmed that a BMW hydrogen 7 car would be arriving for a month-long test period in mid-May. “It will be part of the commissioners' car pool, so anyone who wants to test it out can,” the official said. The hydrogen 7 switches between petrol and hydrogen fuel, emitting 332g/km in its petrol mode, but falling to 5.2g/km with hydrogen.
One small inconvenience: BMW has advised that the car should not be parked in the Commission's underground car-parks.