Top 12 Eco-Friendly Green Cars

[natalie]

[LIST][*]Honda Civic Hybrid sedan[*]Toyota Prius sedan[*]Toyota Camry Hybrid sedan[*]Ford Escape Hybrid SUV[*]Ford Focus[*]Honda Accord Hybrid sedan[*]Hyundai Elantra sedan[*]Kia Spectra[*]Mazda3[*]Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV[*]Nissan Altima sedan[*]Saturn Ion[/LIST]

[design]

Here is a list of some great Eco-Friendly Green Cars.
Chevrolet Volt
Honda Insight
Third Generation Prius
Ford Fusion Hybrid
Lexus HS 250h
Audi A3 TDI
Nissan Leaf
Mercury Milan Hybrid

[LeanGreenEcoMachine]

What are some opinions on which green car is the best? Prius, Volt, Leaf - what are the considerations of one versus the other?

[go.green887]

Originally Posted by LeanGreenEcoMachine

What are some opinions on which green car is the best? Prius, Volt, Leaf - what are the considerations of one versus the other?

I have the exact same question!

[koddio]

In China, they are providing incentives for buying Green cars:

Chinese green car buyers to get rebates

SHANGHAI, May 24 (Reuters) - China will award buyers of green cars with subsidies of up to 60,000 yuan ($8,789) each, the Shanghai Securities News said on Monday, as it steps up efforts to cut emissions in the world's biggest auto market.

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The Chinese government has worked out a plan to subsidise green car buyers and will unveil details by the end of this month, the newspaper said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Subsidies will be based on the performance and energy-savings efficiency of the models, the paper said.

Maximum subsidies for buyers of pure electric vehicles is 60,000 yuan each, while those for plug-in hybrid and normal hybrid cars are 50,000 yuan and 3,000 yuan respectively, it said.

Beijing said in December 2009 that it will subsidise green vehicle buyers in five selected cities.

It will also expand a pilot scheme to subsidise the purchase of clean-energy vehicles for public transport fleets in 13 cities to 20 cities, it said, without giving a timetable or naming the cities. [ID:nTOE5B9033]

Chinese automakers, unscathed by a savage global downturn, are ramping up efforts to get cleaner, low-emission vehicles on the roads, counting on the green drive to propel them into the top ranks of the global auto industry.

From leading Chinese auto group SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) to rising star Geely Automotive Holding (0175.HK), indigenous players showcased a host of new green vehicles at the 2010 Beijing autoshow in April.

Foreign automakers are also on the move. In 2011, General Motors [GM.UL] will roll out its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid in China next year, while Nissan Motor (7201.T) will bring its electric model, Leaf, to the country. ($1=6.826 Yuan) (Reporting by Fang Yan and Jacqueline Wong)

[tysookal]

Check out this electric race car:

Racing Green Endurance SRZero Electric Car to Make 16,000 Mile Trip

The Racing Green Endurance Team has transformed the Radical Sportscars' SR8 production car(which set the track record for a production vehicle at Nürburgring In Germany) into an all-electric supercar and intend to make a trip from northern Alaska to the bottom tip of South America to show the world its abilities. The SRZero provides an EPA 248 mile range per charge which is just over the Tesla Roadster's 224 mile range, so it is expected to go more than 300 miles per charge in actuality. I for one look forward to finding out its exact numbers come July when the 16,000 mile run takes place as it will be a huge accomplishment for an electric production car.

[sueerassmus]

Looks like IndyCar racing might be going green;

IndyCar Series to embrace green car revolution?

Motor sport fans normally put speed and performance ahead of efficiency and economy, but the world famous IndyCar Series may soon offer the best of both worlds.
Following on from the Indianapolis 500, the IZOD IndyCar Series has released a new engine strategy meant to reflect the general downsizing of engines in the commercial market.
A new engine platform will be introduced in 2012 that will allow manufacturers to produce engines with a maximum of six cylinders. The series will also look into new technologies to incorporate into the engine such as fuel conservation, hybridisation and energy recovery.
All cars in the 2010 Indy Series are using 100 per cent ethanol-fuelled Honda Indy HI10R normally aspirated V-8 engines with a 3.5l engine but the maximum displacement of engines from 2012 will be 2.4l. In addition, the new generation of ethanol fuelled engines will produce between 550 and 700bhp to suit the diverse needs of the tracks they compete on.
The new strategy follows a recommendation from the Innovative, Open-Wheel, New, Industry-Relevant, Cost-Effective (ICONIC) Advisory Committee and has the aim of producing the next generation of engines that manage to be both more powerful and more efficient than the current formula.

[yanks2709]

Not surprisingly, every car company wants to get it on the recent green car trend.

Via Freep.com
BY GREG GARDNER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Ford Motor Co. today announced it is investing $135 million to design, engineer and produce key components for the company’s next generation of hybrid-electric vehicles that go into production in 2012.

The move will result in a combined 170 jobs at the company’s Rawsonville and Van Dyke Transmission plants, as well as more than 50 electric vehicle engineers.

Ford is investing about $10 million at its Rawsonville components plant for production of lithium-ion battery packs for the next-generation hybrid vehicles, moving work to Michigan that is currently performed by Delphi in Mexico. About 40 new jobs will be added beginning in 2012. Ford employs about 780 at Rawsonville now.

Ford will invest $125 million at its Van Dyke transmission plant in Sterling Heights to produce a new electric-drive transaxle for the new hybrids, work now done by Aisin Warner in Japan. That will create about 170 new jobs beginning in 2012.

In addition, Ford will add about 50 engineers near its Dearborn headquarters to design both the battery packs and transaxle.

Mark Fields, Ford president for the Americas, said it was unclear yet how many of the new jobs would go to new workers whom Ford could pay a lower wage of about $14 an hour. The company currently has about 450 UAW workers on layoff status. Some of those may be eligible for the jobs at Rawsonville or Van Dyke.

Hiring won't start until closer to 2012 when Ford begins making the battery packs and transaxles.

The new hybrids will be based on the next generation of Ford's midsize cars and crossover vehicles such as the Fusion, Escape and Focus, although there could be new models in those segments. Ford plans to launch five electrified vehicles in the U.S. by 2012 and in Europe by 2013.

For Rawsonville, the investment marks a renewed commitment in a plant that faced a tenuous future not long ago.

The plant was part of Ford's spinoff of parts maker Visteon in 2000. Ford took it back in 2006 and considered closing it until the UAW agreed to cost reductions that made it more competitive.

Today Ford makes air induction systems, starters, carbon canisters and other parts there.

UAW Vice President Bob King thanked workers and Local 898 for the sacrifices they have made to keep the plant open and compete for future work against suppliers in Mexico and Japan.

[URL="http://www.freep.com/article/20100524/BUSINESS01/100524039/1320/Ford-pumps-135M-into-green-cars"]http://www.freep.com/article/20100524/BUSINESS01/100524039/1320/Ford-pumps-135M-into-green-cars[/URL]

[gthurnball]

Here is an article about Ford Motor Company going green:

Blue Oval on a Green Streak: Ford Blueprint for Sustainability

Written by Emily Fox

Ford Motor Company has released its 2009-2010 Blueprint for Sustainability report. Susan Cischke, the group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering for Ford talks with Kirk Heinze about what Ford is doing to be sustainable.

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While the Michigan Electric Vehicle Show rolled through Michigan in June, Cischke talks about how Ford is tweaking its gasoline vehicles to make them more eco-friendly.

“While it’s nice to have the hybrid and the battery electrics, those are small volume applications compared to all the people who are driving gasoline vehicles and we want to make sure we provide affordable fuel economy for millions of people,” she says.

Cischke says Ford’s Fusion hybrid is beating its hybrid competitors by 10 mpg, at 41 mpg city driving. The new Ford Fiesta averages 40 mpg and Ford’s Mustang gets 30 mpg while maintaining force with over 300 horsepower.

“These are mainstream vehicles where we aren’t compromising any of the other attributes, but we are getting improved fuel efficiency,” she says.

It’s the little things that add up, Cischke says. One of those “little things” is using what is called an ecoboost engine—the most fuel efficient internal combustion engine there is. EcoBoost engines reduce CO2 emissions by 15 percent and improve fuel economy by 20 percent.

Click here to hear part one of Cischke’s June 18 Greening of the Great Lakes conversation.

While Ford is making improvements toward sustainability in its gasoline vehicles, the motor company is also looking into electric vehicles.

When planning for the future in electric vehicles, the company has been working with Microsoft to create software to let electric car consumers know when the best time to charge their vehicle is and how long and how often it needs to charge. The software will even send reminders to charge if the consumer forgets.

Overall, Ford aims at being an eco-friendly company, not only in the vehicles, but through the whole supply chain.

Since 2003, Cischke says Ford has cut energy consumption by 29 percent and cut water use by 62 percent—saving 10.5 billion gallons of water. Cischke says the company has also reduced its waste in landfills by 35 percent since 2006.

When it comes to Ford’s commitment to sustainability, Cischke says, “We’ve really focused on every part that we’ve touched. From the assembly of our vehicles to the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, to the supply base, to our dealers. We really want to make sure we have a total picture.”

[Greenybee11]

This Ford car looks like a futuristic station wagon! I know my father has been interested in getting an electric car. He has a jeep right now and it is so bad on gas and on the environment.