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Smart ForTwo Cabriolet. Credit: Smart USA

Here’s cautionary lesson about the hype around hybrid and all-electric automobiles: A respected nonprofit group dedicated to energy efficiency just released its list of “greenest” cars among the 2011 class and seven of the top 13 rely on piston-driven “conventional” engines. In fact, the top performer on the list is the Honda Civic GX, which runs on compressed national gas. The heavily advertised Chevy Volt only ranked #13. No diesels made the list.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy says its 14th annual environmental ratings weighs both upstream and downstream effects, i.e., manufacturing energy, emissions and disposal/recycling considerations.

In a news release, ACEEE vehicle analyst Shruti Vaidyanathan says, “We’re seeing an increasing number of highly efficient gasoline options from both foreign and domestic automakers along with the first electric vehicles. Ford introduced the Fiesta this year and Chevrolet debuted the Cruze, both of which do exceedingly well in our ratings.”

Here are the ratings:

1. Honda Civic GX (compressed natural gas)
2. Nissan Leaf (electric)
3. Smart Fortwo Cabriolet/Coupe (gasoline)
4. Toyota Prius (hybrid)
5. Honda Civic Hybrid
6. Honda Insight (hybrid)
7. Ford Fiesta SFE (gasoline)
8. Chevrolet Cruze Eco (gasoline)
9. Hyundai Elantra (gasoline)
10. Mini Cooper (gasoline)
11. Toyota Yaris (gasoline)
12. Mazda 2 (gasoline)
13. Chevrolet Volt (hybrid)

As one can imagine, the Volt’s marketing managers are none too happy. A story from CNNMoney.com reports that GM is disparaging the ACEEE’s list and ranking system:

“I find it kind of laughable,” said GM spokesman Rob Peterson when told of ranking and the rational behind it. Peterson objected to the idea that the Volt’s weight counted so heavily against the Volt. ”It’s one group’s interpretation of a measurement of ‘green’,” he said.

I think if will be a fairly long time before any of these technologies establishes a dominating position. To a certain extent, a variety of technologies will be required for a long time in certain applications, regardless of the potential, because of other economies and externalities (speed, distance, location), but its nice to see the “green” bar is being raised by not-to-be-ignore amounts each year. Whether it is occurring by revolutionary amounts — I’m thinking here about what is going on in other countries — remains to be seen.

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CNN reported that General Motors announced its Chevrolet Volt electric car will cost $41,000 when it goes on sale in November.

While the price is about $8,000 more than the Nissan Leaf, GM said it will offer a $350-per-month lease deal that’s essentially equal to the Leaf’s.

Both cars also are eligible for a federal tax credit that will cut their prices by $7,500. The Volt would fall to $33,500 while the Leaf’s would drop to $25,280 from nearly $33,000.

Some states, such as California, Georgia and Oregon, offer additional tax breaks that lower the price further.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, the Volt will be capable of traveling up to 40 miles on purely electric power. For driving beyond 40 miles, the Volt will have a four-cylinder gasoline engine that will generate electricity to power the wheels 300 miles.

GM’s lease deal is $350 a month for 36 months with $2,500 down. Nissan’s lease plan is $349 per month for the same length of time with $1,995 down.

GM will unveil the Volt first in California, then in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Michigan and Texas. The cars will first be sold through 600 Chevrolet dealers. But in 12 to 18 months, dealers nationwide should offer the cars.

Nissan’s Leaf, which goes on sale in December, can go up to 100 miles on a charge. The car doesn’t have a gas engine and must be recharged once its battery is depleted.

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Over 8,200 people have made online reservations in the past month for the upcoming Nissan Leaf EV, and for good reason. Set to be released this year, the $33,000 vehicle is the early adopter’s dream. It’s the first affordable all-electric vehicle from a major auto manufacturer. Nissan’s secret behind the Leaf’s reasonable price is a super cheap battery pack.

While most lithium-ion batteries cost $1000 to $1,200 per kWh, the Leaf’s 24-kWh battery pack costs just $9,000 to produce, or $375 per kWh, according to a report in the Times of London. In comparison, the Chevy Volt battery pack reportedly costs $600 per kWh, and even the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium only has a goal of producing batteries at $400 per kWh by mid-decade.

According to auto blogger Edward Niedermeyer at TheTruthAboutCars, it was only about six months ago that GM claimed that it could get lithium-ion prices down to $500/kWh by the Spring of 2011.

At the time, Ford said the cheapest Li-ion packs it could find were in the $700/kWh range.

If the report is correct, Nissan could revolutionize the battery industry - assuming it will share its technology with other automakers.

We’ve been tracking the progress of the Leaf since news of its development first debuted. Read the progress timeline in these posts:

Mileage wars!

Nissan and ORNL team up to deliver 400 miles per battery charge

Nissan Leaf breaks from Big Three mold

Video of the Week: Sneak peak at Nissan’s Leaf

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There has been a lot of discussion on this site regarding Nissan’s new all electric vehicle, the Leaf. This promotional video highlights the lithium-ion battery pack, and other cool features found in the car.

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On the heels of last week’s post about Nissan’s new plug-in hybrid, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nissan is the only car manufacturer out of Japan’s Big Three (Toyota, Honda, Nissan) that appears to be staking its future on full electric cars.

Unlike hybrids, full on electric cars will only travel as far as their battery packs allow. Honda and Toyota expressed skepticism over the technology, while Nissan is fully embracing it.

Critics of all-electric cars cite the high cost of batteries and the likely need for sizable government subsidies and incentives to make all-electric battery cars affordable. The lack of a wide network of battery-charging stations also could be an impediment.

Both Toyota and Honda say a full-electric car may work for certain consumers if they are willing to treat it as a town car with limited driving range. They also say the ultimate green car over the long run will be hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, which they believe will be more efficient than full-electric battery cars. Fuel-cell cars would create their own electricity through a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, acknowledged his company was late to jump onto the hybrid bandwagon, and now plans to concentrate on battery-only cars. “We have had a period where we have had to catch up, but now we will exercise our technological power,” he said. “We are aiming for leadership in [electric vehicles].”

Nissan believes it has found a way to make electric cars, such as the Leaf, nearly as affordable as a gasoline-fueled compact cars. By selling it without its on-board battery pack, Nissan may lease the battery pack to the customer for an affordable month fee, among other means, its executives said.

But Nissan executives also stressed that government support is necessary to launch the Leaf, which it aims to sell world-wide in 2012.

“We are asking governments to cover [the investment] up to the point when we can reach volume momentum—this will take several years,” said Carlos Tavares, who heads Nissan’s Americas operations. Mr. Ghosn estimated that this would take three to four years.

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