"Yes, but if you look carefully you’ll find the fuel is green… "
That depends on what the peddler had to eat. Hey, you started it…
Here are a few web sites to get ideas from.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm
http://www.iihs.org/research/hldi/composite_intro.html
The first one provides all the EPA mileage estimates. You can look at classes of cars to help narrow the list. The second one provides offset crash test results and other safety information. The last one provides insurance pay out information. A value of 100 is average; lower is better. Note that in the last link lower values for the six coverages translates directly into lower insurance cost.
The exhaust maybe considered Hazmat.
Not that difficult. Your utility can tell you that, for instance, 40% of the INSTALLED CAPACITY in power generation might be coal fired, and the rest nuclear. That means that an electric car in your state would generate 40% of 50%, or 20% overall the amount of green house gasses that a conventioanl car would generate. That’s not 100% accurate, but good enough to make a decison if you are an environmentalist.
Where I live, nearly 100% of power comes from coal, so I use 50%.
People who live in Washington state believe their state is “America’s Best Kept Secret”. Having spent nearly a year there on a project, I think they’re not far wrong.
My son’s 1968 Ford Galaxie is green because we have been rebuilding or replacing worn parts, rather than mining lithum in South America to build its batteries (which is what Toyota does for the Prius) - think about how much oil is burned, transporting materials to Japan (a country with no natural resources), and then transporting the finished motorcars THOUSANDS of miles to be sold!
Great idea, and I’d buy one in a heartbeat. But they are not sold where I live (Indiana), and it is currently illegal (!) to buy one where they are sold with the intention to license it in Indiana.
If it’s using a lithium ion array the cooling system is to cool the battery pack.
TSM, Any Way To Get Heat From It Before Driving Off ?
CSA
A used 2k+ Golf TDI, if found in working order will cost about 7k+, get at least 40+ mpg 45+ mpg if a manual, and hold its value. TDI’s easily last to the 400k mi ranges if taken care of and not totaled.
I’m sorry, but I can’t believe people are still talking about that one article stating that the Hummer is cleaner than the Prius over 100k miles, it’s pure garbage.
The greenest car would be a used car, no new materials were used for you to obtain your car.
Personally we bought a used 2000 Honda Insight; at 75mpg we do alright with fuel economy, the price was decent for a low mileage car and no new nickels were mined for my battery pack (which at 10 years old is still going strong)