Green Living
Cool wheels: Consumer's guide to new green cars
By Jim Motavalli Published: December 7, 2010
Electric cars have been revolving on auto show stands for years. But no one really expected to sell them. That's changing now. This year and next, almost every major car company is rolling out at least one road-ready alternative, including battery-powered cars, plug-in hybrids and "range-extender" vehicles. Also available are cars fueled by biodiesel and ethanol.
To get you ready for a new kind of new car, here's a short primer on what to expect.
- Plug-in hybrids — Most hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, use a lithium-ion battery pack in combination with a gasoline engine, but never plug in. A plug-in hybrid adds a larger battery pack and a power cord for recharging, to provide 20 to 50 miles of all-electric range before the gas kicks in.
- Range-extender electric vehicles (EVs) — The Chevrolet Volt is a form of plug-in hybrid that uses its gas engine mostly as a generator, though it does drive the wheels occasionally at speeds above 30 mph. Instead, the engine generates electricity to take the car an additional 300 miles per tank beyond its initial 40-mile all-electric range. The announced price is $41,000, less up to $7,500 in a federal tax credit, or $350 per month on a three-year lease.
- Battery EVs — Typical battery EVs, including the Nissan Leaf, the Coda sedan, the Wheego Whip Life and the electric drive Smart car, will offer approximately a 100-mile range before requiring a four- to eight-hour recharge from a 220-volt charger (or a longer recharge from a standard AC outlet). The cars will cost around $30,000 (the Coda is $44,900), but the $7,500 federal tax credit eases the pain somewhat, and some states, including CA, GA, OR and TN, offer additional credits of up to $5,000. A further tax credit of up to $2,000 is available to install a home charger.
- High performance electrics — Two automakers, Tesla and Fisker, are fielding battery cars that can chirp their tires and keep up with the most macho V8s on the road. Tesla has sold 1,300 of its $109,000 Lotus-based Roadsters and, at year's end, Fisker is rolling out the $87,900 (before rebates) plug-in hybrid Karma, which has 50 miles of battery-only travel and a total of 300 miles with its gas engine running. (As in the Chevy Volt, the gas engine is a generator and the electric motor drives the wheels.)
- Biodiesel and ethanol cars — Biodiesel cars run on cleaner-burning fuel made by blending vegetable oil into standard diesel. With relatively minor modifications, some diesel cars can run on pure vegetable oil—even the recycled grease from fast-food fryers. E85 ethanol, made mostly from corn, can be used in millions of "flex fuel" vehicles already on the road.
Wheels On the Ground
Online electric car talk
Federal and state incentives
Manufacturers' websites
A few caveats: If you carry a lot of people or tow a boat, there may not be a sensible alternative car for you (although a new company called Amp is converting Chevrolet Equinoxes to battery operation). Also, alternative cars are being introduced cautiously, in limited quantities, mostly in large urban areas, so you just might need some of that early-adopter self-reliance (and zeal). But if you're ready, now's the time!
Jim Motavalli writes regularly about automobiles for The New York Times, National Public Radio's "Car Talk," the websites of CBS and AOL and thedailygreen.com. Opinions are the author's and not those of Environmental Defense Fund.
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- EPA head on global warming
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- PHOTOS Five ways to save a delta
- Rewriting the West's water equation
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- Giving hope to West coast fisheries
- GREEN LIVING Guide to green cars
- A sticker of approval for cleaner cars
- MAP Signs of a warming planet
- PHOTOS Texas ranchers welcome rare birds
- WHERE WE STAND 40 Years of the Clean Air Act and the EPA
- FIELD NOTES Climate Corps | John Wilson | Gullah/Geechee | Chesapeake Bay |
- TALK BACK Our readers give their ideas on what to do about global warming.
2 Comments
Now if they just work on the prices so the common person can afford them! Ford got it right with mass production cars that the averege joe could afford. Hope the car industry wakes up so I can afford one Karen Wrbelis
I share the concern of Karen W. as to the cost of the vehicles – especially at my age, 81. I believe fuel savings will not begin to repay the extra cost of the vehicle in my lifetime. I would have great satisfaction knowing a vehicle would be environmentally friendly, but in order to jump-start a landslide of people switching to electrics, prices would have to drop drastically. Easing noise pollution from the freeway a half-mile from my bedroom window would be an extra blessing that many of my old-timer neighbors also would enjoy, but it will be the young people who will have to see the practicality and necessity of more fuel efficient autos.