Prince Charles' Aston Martin Hybrid Runs On Wine

The Chevy Volt, a new kind of hybrid announced by General Motors, was recently called "the Barack Obama of automobiles." Prince Charles is hoping he can do the same thing with his revamped Aston Martin. The prince, long environmentally conscious, has turned his cherished sports car into a hybrid that runs on wine:

In his latest effort to help the environment, the prince has converted his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on fuel made from surplus English wine.

The move, part of a drive to reduce his carbon footprint, emerged in an annual review of the Prince's activities. It shows he has already hit his target of cutting carbon emissions by 12.5 per cent by 2012, in line with the Government's Kyoto target.

Aides said this was partly due to the pattern of Royal trips set by the Foreign Office. He has now doubled the target to a 25 per cent fall in emissions by 2018.

Converting the Aston Martin played a small but symbolic role. The Prince's chief aide Sir Michael Peat said: 'Charles only travelled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston but he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. It just happened that our bioethanol supplier makes the fuel from surplus English wine.'