The Washington Post has some surprising news from the Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, a 44-year-old nonprofit that works on government energy policy and conducts original research and analysis.
According to the article, the organization has been “assessing pollution from cars for decades,” but “this year's winner was the Toyota Prius Prime SE, a plug-in car that can travel 44 miles on electricity before switching to a hybrid. It's a hybrid.” ”
“It's the shape of the vehicle, the technology inside, and the overall weight,” says Peter Heuser, ACEEE's senior research fellow in transportation. “And all the different types of Prius are very efficient…” [T]The Prius Prime also won in 2020 and 2022. But with more and more electric cars on the market, the staying power of plug-in hybrids is surprising.
The analysis found that simply running on electricity is not enough to ensure a car is 'green', the weight of the car, battery size and overall efficiency are also important. Huge electric trucks weighing thousands of pounds may outperform gas-powered vehicles of the same size, but both will lose out to smaller, more efficient gas-powered vehicles. And the more large vehicles we have on the road, the harder it will be for the U.S. to reach its goal of cutting emissions to zero by 2050.
The GreenerCars report analyzes 1,200 cars available in 2024, assessing both the carbon footprint of the cars while they are on the road and the emissions from the manufacturing of the cars and batteries. In addition to carbon dioxide, we also assess the impact of other pollutants that can be harmful to human health, such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. The Toyota Prius Prime earned him a score of 71, and several all-electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Mini Cooper SE earned him scores in the high 60s. The Toyota RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid SUV with a range of 42 miles, received a score of 64. The Hyundai Elan Troubles, a gasoline hybrid vehicle, also made it to the list thanks to its efficient design and excellent mileage.
At the bottom of the list were gas-guzzling heavy-duty trucks like the Ford F-150 Raptor R, with a score of 20. The same was true for some electric cars. The Hummer EV weighs 9,000 pounds and received a score of 29…Efficiency. The battery in this vehicle is less than a tenth of the battery in the giant Hummer EV.
