Electric car tops greenest vehicle list

For the first time in the 12 years of the greencars.org ‘Greenest’ list, the top spot was given to an electric vehicle. Charlotte Reid finds out more about the environmentally friendly, and not so friendly, cars available.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV took the top spot in the greencars.org and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ‘Greenest’ list. The Mitsubishi electric car claimed first place from the Honda Civic Natural Gas, which has been number one for the past eight years.

In order to create the list, the ACEEE took into consideration the manufacturing, recycling process, fuel economy and emissions of the cars.

ACEEE’s lead vehicle analyst, Shruti Vaidyanathan said, “Even taking into account the emissions generated from the electricity used to power the i-MiEV, it still handily outscores other vehicles on the market today”.

The Honda is now in second place, tied with the Nissan Leaf, and the rest of the top 12 is made up of hybrids and efficient gas vehicles.

Vaidyanathan said, “It’s increasingly obvious that automakers are fully invested in providing consumers with the widest possible array of vehicle choices”.

But he pointed out that getting on the ‘Greenest’ list is “proving to be a real challenge for automakers given the variety of vehicle technologies on the markets and proliferation of highly efficient conventional vehicles”.

He summarises his point by saying, “Just using the latest technology does not guarantee a top spot”.

The list also included the ‘Meanest’ cars. These are the cars that are the highest emitters of the year.

They are the twin Chevrolet G3500 Express and GMC G3500 Savana cargo vans. Also appearing on the list is sports car the Bugatti Veyron and the Ford E-350 Wagon.

However, in the UK the electric car has so far failed to take off. It was hoped that last year would be the year for the electric car and the Department for Transport (DFT) were offering generous grants to get people interested. The stalling has been put down to the UK not having a suitable infrastructure for electric cars.

There are many ways to improve the way we travel. In Blue & Green Tomorrow’s interview with the chief executive of Campaign for Better Public Transport, Stephen Joseph, he said it is important to “promote good, affordable door-to-door public transport which gives people real choices to give up their cars”.

As long as electric cars are powered by renewable energy then they have a significant role in the long term in the future of the planet.

To find out more take a look at sustainable travel options.

Picture source: David Villarreal Fernández