It's always interesting when non-automotive people decide to create a list of top cars in some category. In this case, the business and financial writers over at Forbes decided to pick ten technologically advanced green cars. Some of the selections - the Honda FCX Clarity and the Chevy Volt - seem obvious. The inclusion of four diesel vehicles among the ten is also an interesting choice. However, there are some some strange choices. Why is the Chrysler Aspen hybrid included instead of the Chevy Tahoe, considering that the latter is already in production. Although the new Lincoln MKS and the Hyundai Elantra Touring may be fine cars, there is nothing particularly exceptional about either one. Even the EcoBoost GTDI V-6 coming to the Lincoln in 2009 is not new technology, although Ford is trying to make it mainstream. The Elantra has nothing that any number of other cars already on the market also have. What cars would you include on the list and which would you drop?

[Source: Forbes]

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has come up with a Clean Vehicle Design (CVD) that could be applied more broadly to new vehicles sold in the US to reduce Global Warming Emissions. These are technologies already developed and in production and available on some vehicles. Combine them on any vehicle and UCS estimates a ~40% reduction in Global Warming gases. Cost would be hundreds of dollars per vehicle and while payback varies from 1.6 to 5 years.

The features are attractive. Look for yourself:
- Cylinder Deactivation for large displacement engines to improve cruise mileage.
- Variable Valve Lift and Timing – Would anyone say no to that?
- Direct Fuel Injection – Ditto
- Turbocharging – Ditto Ditto
- Flex Fuel technology to help use the ethanol that is coming from corn and then cellulosic sources.
- Advanced Transmissions – more gears in the automatics or automated manual transmissions
- Electric accessories such as power steering and air conditioning.
- Aerodynamics and low rolling resistance tires that retain good handling properties.

A lot of these features are performance items and they make money for the auto companies. However, UCS reports that those companies are resisting legislation in CA and 10 other states that pushes for lower greenhouse gas vehicles. Seems to me times are changing. I want my next car to perform well, to be efficient, and to be clean. Until the car companies sell cars with lifetime fuel included, I don't think I am alone.

Related:

• Scientists lump all fuel-economy measures in theoretical Vanguard minivan; but is it that easy in the real world?
  

[Source: UCS]

All the major car manufacturers are currently placing their bets as to what powertrain technology they think will win out in the near-future. Where would you put your money?

Vote now.

Which powertrain technology will your 2010 model year passenger vehicle run on?
	Petrol engine - such as most passenger vehicles today
	Clean diesel - such as the Audi A8 TDI
	Compressed natural gas - such as the Volkswagen Touran EcoFuel
	Hydrogen fuel-cell - such as the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell
	Petrol/Hydrogen internal combustion engine - such as the BMW Hydrogen 7
	Petrol-electric hybrid - such as the Toyota Camry Hybrid
	Flex-fuel electric hybrid - such as the E85-capable Ford Escape Hybrid
	Diesel-electric hybrid - such as the prototype Citroen C4
	Plug-in electric with petrol range extending - such as the E-Flex Chevy Volt
	Plug-in electric with fuel cells - such as the HySeries Drive Ford Edge
	Petrol-diesel-fuel-cell-hydrogen-solar-hybrid - such as the Jetsons' flying saucer
Free polls from Pollhost.com

There are many reasons why small, fuel-efficient cars often sold poorly in the US market from the mid 1980s until relatively recently. Cheap gas was certainly one very important reason. Once the memory of the last energy crisis of the 1979-80 period faded, there just wasn't much of an incentive to drive fuel-efficient cars.

The other problem is that domestic cars in the small car category just weren't very attractive to customers. Small cars from the domestic manufacturers have always had a reputation for being cheap, usually not in a good way. They have generally had hard plastic interior panels, often with visible parting lines from the molds. Switchgear often has stiff operation again with poor feel. Mechanically, these cars have regularly had components a generation or more behind their counterparts from foreign based brands. Even more annoying is that the comparably sized cars from the same car-makers, over-seas operations have been built to a much higher standard than the domestic models. The difference between a late 1990s Chevrolet Cavalier and a comparable Opel Astra is like night and day.

There's more after the jump.

Speaking of politicians, I think Talkingpointsmemo has an attitude worth remembering whenever President Bush talks about the changes that America needs to go through in order to curb our addiction to oil. While he’s willing to say we have an addiction to oil, he sure isn’t willing to take any action curb his addiction to rhetoric about tax cuts. Bush’s statement that “We need to get off oil. The best way is to do that through technology,” is wrong. The best way would be a large-scale restructuring of our economy, for people to actively change their lifestyles. This is difficult, and there is no chance Bush (or almost any other elected official) will call for that. What Bush means is that the only solution to oil addiction he’ll tolerate is one that continues to use oil for the foreseeable future.

[Source: Talkingpointsmemo.com, Image source: CNN]