Electric vehicles continue to lead the way in the annual American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) GreenerCars ratings of the most environmentally friendly cars. Of the six best-scoring 2024 cars, all are electric, with four fully electric vehicles and two plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) models. The Toyota Prius Prime was the top scorer in the 2024 GreenerCars rankings, followed by the Lexus RZ 300e, Mini Cooper SE, Nissan Leaf, Toyota bZ4X, and Toyota RAV4 Prime. Rounding out the top 12 on the Greenest List are three EVs and three gasoline hybrid cars from Hyundai, Toyota, and Kia.
Just over half the cars on the 2024 Greenest List start at under $35,000, including four EVs and three gas hybrids. This comes as average prices across all EVs dropped by 18% in 2023, driven by increased competition from traditional automakers, improvements in inventory and supply chains, and lower costs for lithium-ion batteries. As prices fell, new EV sales last year increased 46%, reaching 1.2 million.
“It’s important for automakers to keep expanding affordable EV options rapidly so that the benefits of EVs are available to drivers across a wider spectrum of incomes as we transition away from cars that burn gasoline. For drivers whose needs are not met by today’s charging infrastructure, many efficient and affordable hybrid options are available,” said Peter Huether, ACEEE’s senior transportation research associate and lead researcher for the GreenerCars rankings.
The Greenest List highlights the 12 highest-scoring models this year, the Greener Choices List includes a variety of high-scoring conventional vehicles, and the Meanest List identifies the 12 worst-performing mass-market models. The average fuel cost of a vehicle on the Greenest List is a fifth of the average fuel cost of a vehicle on the Meanest List, showing that greener options can also be more affordable.
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