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The greenest cars on sale
The greenest cars you can buy now
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Sunday April 22nd marked Earth Day 2012, so we've brought together the greenest cars on sale in the UK.
We took the estimated average fuel economy of a new car on sale in the UK - itself a perfectly creditable 52.5mpg - and compared the most fuel-efficient cars you can buy against it.
This gave us a list of the greenest new cars you can buy - and we have also included how much more economical than an average car they are. The improvement on offer to new car buyers really will amaze. Here, in reverse order, are the greenest cars you can buy now.
Average CO2 emissions of new cars have fallen, reports the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), by nearly a quarter since 2000, and last year alone, they dropped by 4.2%. The average new car sold now emits 138g/km. Ten years ago, this stood at 174g/km. In 1997, it was just below 200g/km.
Furthermore, in 2011, nearly half the new car market emitted 130g/km CO2 or less, a key European benchmark. Even just five years ago, little more than 10% of the market could hit this CO2 target, showing the pace of green car development by car manufacturers.
Indeed, the greenest cars of all, those emitting 100g/km CO2 or less, have DOUBLED their market share in just 12 months, and the pace shows little sign of slowing, either.
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31Comments
24/04/2012 15:01
If the government and the rest of the world is serious about us buying the most efficient cars, why don't they remove all taxes on these vehicles from new? Damn! I failed to mention one thing, the whole rotten lot are really not interested in greenhouse gas/carbon emissions - they'd rather have the money!
23/04/2012 19:08
24/04/2012 22:04
Basically, The Gov know soon we will run out of deisel and petrol or will become so expensive they will lose the 64p in the £ they get in tax. So they look for another type of energy so eventually electricity will only be available through tax purposes etc due to more crap they give us every year. Tell the chinese to switch some bloody lights off, or stop poluting 10000 times more than this country. I don't know why i am bothering. MPs are only here to fill their own pockets. Never see them till elections. Funny that.
23/04/2012 22:37
24/04/2012 11:00
24/04/2012 18:37
22/04/2012 09:17
Is it just me or does anyone else look at the big picture to understand why these new cars are actually greener???
The development and purchase costs are far higher than the models before hence more money has to be made through the chain....................from developer to buyer
Therefore to buy one you have to spend more work more pay more..............and what about the so called not so green car your are replacing?????...........Oh yes someone else will be driving it so its still on the road! So infact you are increasing the g/km!!!! By the two cars on the road.
But then again it could always be sent for scrap at a poluted old fashioned junk yard somewhere chucking out old exhaust fumes and crap out in the air
Bless them all!!!
23/04/2012 21:48
24/04/2012 09:41
Love the comment about electric cars. All well and good but the electricity has to be generated somewhere. The more electric cars we have the more power stations we need to charge them. All you are doing is moving the problem and not fixing it.
Diesel low emission cars are the most practicable and fuel efficient at the moment.
24/04/2012 22:19
@ stirling
I agree Except where i live we never see a councillor or politician except on tv
They better work for it this time if they expect my vote
as for fuel prices I have given up trying to afford petrol I buy £30.00 a week and when its gone its gone public transport is a joke and too expensive so i ride a bike walk or put off going out My advice is Don't buy chinese goods its all junk anyway buy quality and you buy once.
24/04/2012 11:09
Usual comments about electric cars below. Some of which which do not recognise the efficiency gains inherent in centralised power generation. Even coal-fired power stations achieve around 38% combustion efficiency, whereas typical vehicle engines only achieve about 25%. Gas and nuclear power stations are even more efficient and (of course) about 5% of our electricity already comes from renewable sources.
The contribution of renewables (particularly wind and tidal energy) has even greater importance than the percentage figure initially suggests, because they do not require any fuel at all. All other generators require fuel to extract, process and transport the fuel they require to generate power. This reduces the overall efficiency rating of the technology.
As many people suggest, hybrids work well today, but, as renewables are expanded towards 15% or even the 2050 target of 40%, all-electric vehicles will become a more and more attractive alternative.
24/04/2012 06:23
24/04/2012 09:33
22/04/2012 10:51
24/04/2012 18:42
24/04/2012 12:08
all car are much cheaper abroad,talking between 15 - 20 %, WHY???????????????
ANSWER = TAX TAX TAX TAX and more tax,UK in general is a ripoff as it all tax tax tax and
more tax,TYPICAL FFFF TORIES, get tid of them,it's always the same,from Maggie(we all remember
her for the Polltax)tories it's tax and FAT salaries for them self.fff.off.
24/04/2012 12:16
I own a SEAT Ecomotive and only get aprox 60 mpg (not the 80+) , the head of SEAT UK tells me that that's all I should expect to achieve. Yet on the same type of travel in my Mazda MX5 I achieve aprox 41mpg more comfort, stability, safety in other words a real car not a striped down nosey shell of a car. If thinking of buying a Seat remember the after care, if your car has a problem because SEAT do not.
24/04/2012 15:58
24/04/2012 05:10
24/04/2012 21:56
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