Green Car Journal has identified the five vehicles nominated for its 2009 Green Car Vision Award. The finalists are the Chevrolet Volt, Fisker Karma, Honda FCX Clarity, MINI E, and Mitsubishi i-MiEV
The winner will be announced February 3, at The Washington Auto Show in Washington D.C.
Unlike concept cars, which tantalize with wild designs or features that may or may not ever make it to the highway, the award is meant for vehicles that are "real," according to Green Car Journal. The nominees are either in limited production or in demonstration programs now, or are in development and on the road to commercialization.
"Vehicles offering dramatically improved environmental performance are crucial to helping us move beyond today’s challenges of oil dependence and growing environmental impacts," says Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com.
Dispelling the idea that innovation will only come from outside the traditional automotive industry, four of the 2009 Green Car Vision Award(TM) finalists are products from major auto manufacturers. The fifth is from a new car company, Fisker Automotive, headed by Henrik Fisker, formerly director of Ford’s Global Advanced Design Studio and before that president of BMW division DesignWorks USA.
Chevrolet’s Volt is a range-extended, plug-in electric car with a scheduled introduction in late 2010. The Fisker Karma, to be shown in production form next month, is a plug-in hybrid luxury sedan that’s set for sale in late 2009. The FCX Clarity, Honda’s innovative hydrogen fuel cell sedan, is in very limited production and being leased to a small number of consumers now. The recently unveiled battery electric MINI E will be leased to 500 select consumers in three states. Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars are on the highway in a demonstration program with Southern California Edison and PG&E.
Supporting its growing ‘green’ theme, a wide array of advanced technology and clean fuel vehicles will be displayed at the 67th staging of the Washington Auto Show, in a Green Car Pavilion and throughout the show floor, from February 4-8, 2009.
Loading...
I applaud the green car awards, however I amazed that they say they’re not for “concept” cars. That’s exactly what the Volt is. This award should be for mass production vehicles today that meet appropriate levels of sustainability, similar to being LEED certified in the building industry.
The Chevy Volt is a porker – repuditely weighing in at 3,500 lbs. Compare that to the svelt Toyota Prius at 2,765 lbs.
This reminds me of how Detroit embraced hybrid technology – first they introduced it in their SUV’s! So now they move ahead with an electric “sports car”.
Why we are bailing out Detroit eludes me. They just don’t get it!