Mean, green and nice to be seen

‘Doctor on the Road’: BMW X5 xDrive45e

Eco-conscious independent practitioners will want to give this impressive hybrid car some serious consideration, says our motoring correspondent Dr Tony Rimmer.

We all know that, in the medical world, regulation changes are happening constantly. To respond to them and stay competitive, all private doctors have learnt to change the way things are done – sometimes very quickly – and accept that this will happen repeatedly

It has been no secret to all car manufacturers that there is a general trend to electrify all vehicles to cut emissions and reduce road transport’s contribution to global warming.

Most governments have supported this move with regulations to reward the car-makers who move quickly to adopt the new technology.

New EU rules came into force on 1 January 2020 that will heavily penalise car makers if average CO₂ emissions from the cars they sell rise above 95g per kilometre. If ca­r-makers exceed that limit, they will have to pay a fine of €95 (£79) for every gram over the target, multiplied by the total number of cars they sell.

To comply, this means that they have to sell an increased number of hybrid and preferably fully electric cars from now on.