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Electric vehicles are here to save us, aren’t they? After all, they kick out zero emissions at the tailpipe and can be powered by electricity that’s generated by wind or water, right? Wrong; it turns out an EV isn’t the greenest car you can buy in America right now, it’s a plug-in hybrid instead.
That’s according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which was brought to our attention by the folks at Automotive News. In the report, four out of the top five green cars you can buy right now are electric, but number one is, in fact, the Toyota Prius plug-in. As per Automotive News:
Despite the attention on dozens of new electric models, the Toyota Prius Prime SE plug-in hybrid is the greenest model of 2024, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s annual GreenerCars ratings of the most environmentally friendly cars.
Still, of the six best-scoring vehicles this year, four are battery-electric vehicles and two are plug-in hybrids. Rounding out the top six are the Lexus RZ 300e EV, Mini Cooper SE EV, Nissan Leaf EV, Toyota bZ4X EV and Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy evaluated each 2024 model based on its cost to human health from air pollution associated with vehicle manufacturing and disposal, the production and distribution of fuel or electricity, and vehicle tailpipe emissions. The group also accounted for air pollution associated with EV battery manufacturing.
Across the top ten greenest cars in America, four are either hybrid or plug-in hybrid models. The remaining six are all EVs, including the Kia EV6 and the Hyundai Kona Electric.
The high ranking of hybrid and plug-in hybrid models was thanks, in part, to their relatively low weight compared to their battery-powered counterparts. According to Automotive News, the higher weight of EV battery packs makes them more environmentally intense to produce and transport around.
Additionally, there’s a mounting pile of evidence that heavier vehicles can pollute the Earth in other ways by kicking up brake dust and rubber from tires that wear away on the road.
A version of this story appeared on Jalopnik’s The Morning Shift.
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