"Greenest 2011 Model Year Vehicles List" Released -- Not A Bakken Story

Today's Los Angeles Times reports that the new Chevrolet Volt barely made the top 12 list for "greenest 2011 model year vehicles."

The Chevrolet Volt barely made the list, coming in at number 12 of 12.

The natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX topped the list for an eighth straight year, with a score of 54, followed by the new all-electric Nissan Leaf. Other vehicles considered to be the greenest of the crop included the hybrid Toyota Prius and the hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt, which squeaked into the last spot.

"Vehicles running on electricity emit nothing from the tailpipe, but their 'upstream' emissions can be substantial, depending on where they're charged," said spokesman.

Coal-powered vehicles would have particularly huge "upstream" emissions.

By the way, it turns out the Volt may be a hybrid (like the Prius) and not a true EV (electric vehicle) as claimed by GM. If so, it would not qualify for the federal credit; hybrids do not qualify for the EV credit.

The all-electric Tesla Roadster did not make the top 12 list. (By the way, things are not looking good for Tesla. In fiscal 2010, Tesla's net loss nearly tripled to $154.3 million.)

In a February 2, 2011, op-ed piece, the FedEX CEO wrote, "People are rushing to buy the first all-electric Nissan Leafs and plug-in hybrid Chevy Volts."

Here are the sales figures:

According to GM's January deliveries report, the Volt, which was named Motor Trend's Car of the Year, last month was a bit of a letdown.

A whopping 321 Volts were sold, down from 326 in December. The Nissan Leaf, Europe's Car of the Year, fared even worse, moving 87 vehicles off dealers' lots. However, this is something of a win for Nissan, as only 19 Leafs (Leaves?) were purchased the month before.

A discussion of the disposal of these batteries at the end of their useful life has not been discussed in these links.