Green, Not-So-Green Vehicles Rated by Environmental Group
Contrasted with General Motors Corp.’s EV1 electric car, the average 1999 passenger vehicle gets a solid F in environmentalism, according to a rating guide released Wednesday by a national consumer environmental group.
The good news is that with several hundred models on the market, there are still numerous conventional vehicles out there with high “green” ratings for shoppers who consider environmental impact when looking for a new car or light truck.
There are even a few sport-utility vehicles--ugly brown smudges on most green lists--that rise above the muck and get better-than-average ratings in the new “Green Guide to Cars and Trucks,” published by the Washington-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The guide, first published in 1998, is an attempt by the 19-year-old nonprofit organization to give consumers information “so they can see the greenest vehicles in whatever class they are looking,” said coauthor John DeCicco. “The absolute best and worst in the ratings isn’t really the message.”
Nevertheless, the best of the 319 models of cars, wagons, minivans, pickups and SUVs rated was the EV1, with a green score of 57. The guide uses a scale of 0 to 100--the highest score based on the as-yet-unobtainable absolute zero-emission standard.
The worst, with 7 points, was the Dodge Ram 2500 pickup with a 5.9-liter V-8 gasoline engine and an automatic transmission.
About 45% of the vehicles on the list scored at or above the average of 21 points. A total of 1,503 vehicles with various combinations of engine, transmission and federal or California emissions ratings were evaluated.
The guide’s ratings are based on such factors as a vehicle’s emissions, especially the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming; fuel efficiency; pollutants and greenhouse gases generated in manufacturing; and the estimated effect on U.S. health costs.
“We are seeing progress [by auto makers] in cleaning up tailpipe emissions, but the industry is still dragging its feet on fuel economy,” DeCicco said. Still, he said, “there is a realization that there is some potential market value to be tapped into” by making cleaner vehicles.
DeCicco said that if car buyers select the “greenest” versions of models they prefer, it will “be an important step for improving both air quality today and for protecting the planet from the [long-term] risks from greenhouse gases.”
DeCicco, the council’s transportation director, and coauthor Martin Thomas, a council researcher, cited Honda Motor Co. for taking the lead last year by marketing its California-emissions-standard vehicles nationwide. California’s standards are regarded as the toughest in the country.
Ford Motor Co. also won a nod from the authors for beginning to make California-standard vehicles available in other markets this year and for making all of its SUVs meet California’s low-emission-vehicle standard.
The best gasoline-powered car on the list was the manual-transmission Chevrolet Metro--a three-cylinder economy subcompact--with a score of 38.
The electric vehicles on the market today all topped that mark, accounting for six of the first seven places on the “Green Guide’s” top 10 list.
* TAILPIPE CRACKDOWN: The EPA will propose tougher emissions rules for light trucks, SUVs. C2
