Let’s say you’re looking to buy a new vehicle and have decided that it’s time to get behind the wheel of a “greener” ride. Aside from spending hours online researching autos, how can you determine which vehicle is the right one for you? Well, a quick and easy way is to head over to Next Green Car’s site and skim its newly launched “Next Green Car Approved 2010” model list.
Broken down by vehicle class (city car, supermini, small/large family, multi-purpose, sports utility, executive and sports/cabrio), the list provides simple visuals to help car buyers quickly identify green vehicles. Next Green Car’s “Approved” list rates each vehicle in several categories, including GC Rating (overall), combined miles per gallon, CO2 emissions, tax band (applicable for buyers in the UK) and fuel type.
The list, updated monthly, will include any new vehicle available in the UK that meets the stringent guidelines laid out by Next Green Car. Hit up the site and see if the ride that you dream of owning meets Next Green Car’s approval.
[Source: Next Green Car]
PRESS RELEASE
What Next? Next Green Car launch Approved list – an independent
endorsement to identify the best of the best green cars
Next Green Car, the new incarnation of What Green Car, continues in its mission to
help consumers to find and buy a greener car. This week, Next Green Car are
launching a number of new services including the Approved list – an independently
selected list of cars based on objective environmental criteria, designed to help car
buyers identify high quality green cars through a simple recognisable symbol.
The Next Green Car Approved list, available to view at nextgreencar.com/approved,
consists of around one hundred models across vehicle classes. The list will be
updated on a monthly basis, making it a definitive and up-to-date guide on the best
green cars.
The up and coming electric cars top the City Car class (Mitsubishi iMiEV, Peugeot
iOn, Citroen C-Zero), Small Family class (Nissan LEAF) and the Sports class with the
iconic Tesla Roadster. However, the Approved list extends far beyond electric cars to
incorporate the best petrol, diesel, biofuel and hybrid vehicles, where significant
reductions in emissions have been made in the last few years. The recently launched
Fiat 500 TwinAir is currently the lowest emission petrol car and the latest VW
BlueMotion Polo, Skoda Greenline II Hatch and Estate and SMART fourtwo coupe
are the best performing diesels.
“The aim of the Approved list is to provide consumers with an easy to use way to
identify the best green cars. We often hear from car buyers that they are confused by
the different green claims from varying sources. With the Next Green Car Approved
list, car buyers can be confident that they have found the best green cars, which
don’t just measure tail-pipe CO2 but also take into account the regulated air
pollutants, and the lifecycle impact of the car” Dr. Ben Lane, Managing Editor, Next
Green Car.
Next Green Car has selected the Approved models with care. The primary selection
criteria is the Green Car Rating, developed by Next Green Car, which expresses the
lifecycle environmental impact of a car as a score between 0 and 100 – the lower the
score, the less the environmental impact.
In addition to having a low Green Car Rating, Approved models must also perform
highly according to the following criteria: build quality, driver and pedestrian safety,
and be fit-for-purpose. These criteria tend to exclude ‘quadricycles’ and after-market
conversions.
As the Green Car Rating tends to increase with vehicle size, models are considered
for approval within each vehicle class (size). Some of the larger vehicle classes, such
as SUVs, do not have any Approved cars, but it is hoped that this will change over
time.
To find out more about Next Green Car please visit www.nextgreencar.com
About the Green Car Rating
The WhatGreenCar ratings express a vehicle’s lifecycle environmental impact out of
100 ranging from 0 for the greenest vehicles to 100 for the most polluting.
The Green Car Rating goes well beyond just tailpipe CO2 emissions and assesses
the emissions associated with a vehicle’s use and manufacture, as well as emissions
generated during production of the fuel. This means that all fuel and engine types
can be rated and compared, whether they are conventional petrol or diesel cars,
petrol hybrids, powered by biofuels or LPG, or are battery electric vehicles.
