Green Cars of 2008: Mega-Ginormous Summary of the Year
6. Mercedes
Mercedes aimed high this year: Their plan is to "Eliminate Fossil Fuels from their Car Lineup by 2015", though it's important to read the small print on that one (this includes flex-fuel capable vehicles which might still be run on fossil fuels). Let's just hope that falling oil prices won't slow down their efforts.
Mercedes has also shown three electric concept cars (Mercedes Unveils BlueZERO Trio of Electric Concept Cars): A battery EV, a plug-in series hybrid, and one powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
7. Volkswagen
A mixed year for VW. Some great promise, but also disappointment. First, the company showed a 70-MPG diesel-electric hybrid Golf, only to later announced that it wouldn't make it (Volkswagen Golf Turbo-Diesel Hybrid Too Expensive for Production).
VW has also announced that it would make a Limited Edition of 1-Liter Car (282 MPG!) in 2010, but the real question is: "How limited will it be?" We're pretty sure there would be lots of demand for it, especially if a few things are changed to make it more practical (even if they lose a bit of MPG, it would still be fantastic).
Another interesting car: The VW Golf Diesel BlueMotion Concept: 62 MPG, 99g CO2/km. Let's hope it makes it to North-America.
8. Chrysler
Chrysler's main announcement this year was for 3 electric vehicle concepts (Chrysler Unveils 3 Electric Car Prototypes, One to Be Produced in 2010), the most original being the minivan. Let's hope that one of them will really make it to market.
9. Nissan
The Nissan Altima hybrid, using technology from Toyota, is now being used by some cabs in New York City (Nissan Altima Hybrid as Taxis in New York City), and that's a good match because hybrids do better in city environments.
The big announcement by Carlos Ghosn this year was that Nissan would Introduce an Electric Car in 2010, and start Mass-Production in 2012.
10. Aptera
It's a plane, it's a car, it's the Aptera.
Good news this year as mega-giant-internet company Google decided to invest (via its Google.org foundation) in Aptera Motors. You can reserve your Aptera Typ-1 (deposit of $500), the all-electric model will sell for $27,000 and the series plug-in hybrid version will sell for $30,000.
