Green car book disses the Chevy Volt, and GM isn't too happy

[SidDithers]

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/green-car-book-disses-the-chevy-volt-and-gm-isnt-too-happy

The 2011 ACEEE ratings judge the new plug-in hybrids, and GM's flagship Volt doesn't fare all that well -- even the Hyundai Elantra scores higher. Redo that methodology, GM says.

General Motors isn’t at all that happy with the latest 2011 ratings from the Green Car Book, which judges the new models on a point scale that includes not only fuel economy and tailpipe emissions, but also such relatively arcane measures as factory pollution and ease of recycling.

The Volt was far below the Nissan Leaf (second place), the Smart fortwo (third place) and even such conventional gas burners as the Mini Cooper (10th place) and the Hyundai Elantra (ninth).

The Volt was in 12th place, at the bottom of the list. And it didn't appear at all in the separate "Greener Choices" ranking, which lists the best cars in various categories. The Leaf got a green score of 54, the Volt 48.

Rankings from greencars.org here:
http://www.greenercars.org/highlights.htm

Sid

[GSLevel9]

1. Anyone who follows cars tech already knew this. Nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. As with many so called green technologies the wastes are just relocated

and part are of a different kind.

Moving people and stuff around takes energy and generates waste of some kind, somewhere. Solar cells production creates toxins so it is not truly clean energy. The hope is that the wastes would be less and better controlled, though it appears in the case of the Volt, that may not be the case

[Duckhunter935]

3. the smart

is a conventional gas burner

[Tesha]

4. In Europe, it's available as a more-sensible diesel. (NT)

[upi402]

5. GM pulled the EV1 - tough shit- check this;

"18. Without a business case for continuing the manufacturing and sales of its EV1 because of high production costs, GM ended the EV1 program in 2003. GM was not alone. Each auto manufacturer ultimately ceased production and marketing of its electric vehicles after meeting the numbers and terms required by the agreements signed with CARB for the test marketing of electric cars."

http://www.greencar.com/articles/20-truths-gm-ev1-electric-car.php

The article proposes to be the truth, but it ignores big oil's influence. The movie was great, though.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. not surprising, since the Volt is a much nicer car it isn't quite as efficient

the Leaf's range is around 100 miles (47-138 depending on conditions), while the Volt is unlimited.

The Smart fortwo is tiny and it's fuel economy is worse than the Volt's even when the Volt is not charged. The same can be said for the Mini Cooper, not quite as tiny but the mileage is even less.

The Prius is a more reasonably sized vehicle and has great mileage but the Volt is more of a mid-sized car (although it only seats 4). I can see why the Prius wins out here too, but you are still giving up comfort in a Prius.


I have little doubt that the rankings are accurate, but if you sit in a Volt and then go look at those other cars you won't even want to bother getting in one.


The Volt really is a different type of vehicle. Comparing it to others like this can sometimes be misleading.