Yaris and Mini Cooper beat Chevy Volt for greeness.

[Ryland]

Moral of the story seems to be, keep it simple!

Chevy Volt Barely Makes 2011 List of Greenest Vehicles | PluginCars.com

[texanidiot25]

The first negative mark against the Volt in ACEEE’s methodology is the weight, which provides an indication of how much energy went into producing the vehicle.

Not exactly...

[Angmaar]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Moral of the story seems to be, keep it simple!

That's what all automakers should do. Just take a 1.6L or less gas/diesel engine, add a turbo and start and stop system. 50+MPG easy

[cfg83]

Ryland -

So the Smart ForTwo (#3 on the list) is a manual?!?!? :

SMART FORTWO CABRIOLET / SMART FORTWO COUPE - 1.0L 3, manual

Or do paddle-shifters make it qualify as a manual? :

smart fortwo passion cabriolet

Engine/ Drivetrain
1.0 L, 70 HP, 3 cylinder engine
smart-shift Transmission
Paddle shifters

CarloSW2

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by cfg83

So the Smart ForTwo (#3 on the list) is a manual?!?!? :

Power transmission

Clutch single-plate dry clutch
Transmission five-speed automated manual transmission

[jakobnev]

The "two-thirds EV and one-third gas" approach stems from data about typical driving patterns of American drivers, as used by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency.

That's actually mathematically incorrect since there is a decision involved when buying a vehicle that will shape the distribution of drivers actually driving the volt, ie. people don't randomly choose their vehicles, the people who actually end up driving the volt will benefit more from it's ev-only capabilities than the average driver would.

Dumbing things down to a single number is almost always a recipe for disaster.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Or do paddle-shifters make it qualify as a manual?

Over here, manual or auto transmission is determined by having a user-operated clutch or not.

[groar]

Results from my own parameters would be totally different...

How does an ULEV vehicle with medium MPG can beat a SULEV with high MPG ?
How does "clean diesel" can be rated nearly the same as the Volt ?

I think pollution is mainly about design and maintenance, while consumption is also about driving. With my money I prefer buying a SULEV/ULEV/PZEV vehicle and hypermile it to lower the GHG.

Currently I do my best with my dirty diesel. As soon as I have the money I'll buy a Prius II which will cost me more by km, but which will pollute much less.
If someone offers me a RX400h I may keep it, not a big "clean diesel" even if it would cost me less per km.

Denis.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by jakobnev

people don't randomly choose their vehicles, the people who actually end up driving the volt will benefit more from it's ev-only capabilities than the average driver would.

Most people would do well driving an EV, but their formula takes in to account the materials that go in to making a vehicle, not just what the vehicle is running on, thus a vehicle with an aluminum body or titanium or something else exotic that was energy intensive to build would get fewer points, it sounds like their formula is crude to a point because they just look at vehicle weight to figure the energy to build it and on average a heavier car is going to take more energy and have a larger environmental impact to refine the metal and plastics that go in to it.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Angmaar

That's what all automakers should do. Just take a 1.6L or less gas/diesel engine, add a turbo and start and stop system. 50+MPG easy

+1. I'd like to see simpler cars with less weight and more focus on efficiency. I like minimal motoring but this is not where the market is unfortunately.