"Which" report on Sky News

Since the "Demonization" of diesel engines the switch to petrol has seen CO2 emissions rocket 

Rudolf Diesel gets an undeserved bad press. He designed his engine for use on peanut oil.

The envorinmentalist will surely be along shortly to complain about the harm of growing peanuts for oil.

Yes its just Physics. The definition of hybrid is defined as being able to do 30 miles on a charge. To achieve this the car has to have a normal engine and driveline but also has large battery and electric driveline. This means that it is considerably heavier than a internal combustion engined vehicle. In vehicle terms weight causes emissions, this is just a fact derived from energy conversion calculations.

If the vehicle stays in E mode then all is good but the issue that once you have done your 30 miles then the car has to drag around all that extra weight with a smaller than ideal internal combustion engine working very hard. This is very inefficient and causes significantly more emissions than a similar model with conventional engine. 

There are models that do significantly better which are the type that have range extender engines that do not drive the wheels but charge the battery instead, these can be ran at very efficient low emission modes. 

But are also not very good at towing

where did you get that definition from? I know that the hybrid Merc E Class does something like 15 miles from its own battery.

So Far no car manufacturer has managed to come up with a pure EV that can tow 2 tonnes for a reasonable distance AND not cost a Kings Ransom. The Tesla can do it, but is far too expensive, Hybrids are a reasonable stepping stone to full EV....... but until there is a breakthrough many will be keeping their older diesels running purely for towing, be that caravan or horsebox.

MM yes you are correct, I am way out of date. The average seems to be way lower than the old target on battery alone and now everything based on conditions defined by EU law, the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) 

In vehicle terms weight causes emissions, this is just a fact derived from energy conversion calculations.

If the vehicle stays in E mode then all is good

Surely not?   When running on battery the poor thing has to hump along a combustion engine, gearbox and tank of liquid fuel. If those were not there then it would go a bit further on a charge - which is provided with its own set of emissions.

The hybrid is in effect the WORST of both options.

I am a fan of the Hybrids, I have actually ordered a new 2.4 Outlander PHEV, at present I drive a 2017 Ford Kuga Diesel 150bhp powershift and do be honest I love the Kuga, but there seems to be less and less decent diesel towcars on the market every year, Volvo, Toyota and Honda are a few which has turn its backs.

Because of my journeys and driving habits I am virtually the perfect candidate for a PHEV, however, there are a few that have all gone fashionable green over night. But the worst offender are the company car, the government has found a majority of company PHEV still have the charging unsealed unused in the boot of the car. The government removed the £2500 PHEV grant To make a PHEV you need to regularly charge up the vehicle.

A Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV according to owners on petrol only records around 36/37mpg, I also found this correct on a long term test, our Kuga this time of year 39/41 mpg. However the Outlander PHEV attracts a very favourable  Benefit in Kind incentive.