Low Emission Diesel Cars
Audi A5 3.0 TDI - Low Emission Diesel Car
Partly as response to climate change concerns, but mainly due to high oil prices, car manufacturers are producing increasing quantities of low-emission diesel cars. These are a cheaper and greener alternative, but could they be described as green?
Many do 65 miles per gallon (mpg), but this figure is likely to improve very quickly with models that return 70-plus mpg within the year. All will qualify for London's new low-emission zone, and a lucrative government tax break. The CO2 emissions of these engines can be less than 100g/km. By comparison, the Toyota Prius, widely seen as the world's greenest mass production car, switching from electric to petrol, clocks around 105g/km of CO2. The Smart Car generates 90g and the average of cars in the UK is 164g.
UPDATE
What Car? magazine's award for the greenest car of 2009 has been won by the Volvo S40 DRIVe. It has carbon emissions on a par with Toyota's Prius.
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