EPA's Green Vehicle Guide - 12/28/09

Since tailpipe emissions are directly connected to how much fuel a vehicle burns, and it's usually a good gauge of how efficient the vehicle is. While the U.S. offers an official standardized mpg number (despite some calls to shift to a gallons per mile system), there is a way to get a sort of g/km number here in the U.S.

The source is the EPA's Green Vehicle Guide, which rates vehicles based on tailpipe emissions and carbon-dioxide emissions. As Green Car Reports points out, this guide is a lot better for figuring out how clean a vehicle is than some of the media's efforts at ranking dirty vehicles. There is some state-to-state variation, since 13 states use California's emission requirements, but at least there is a way to see which cars sold in the U.S. are literally cleaner than the rest.

Who comes out on top? The Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Honda Civic Hybrid, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, and the Toyota Prius all scored 10 out of 10 in the toughest SmartWay Elite ranking.

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