The 450 million vehicles on the road today generate nearly one fifth of greenhouse gas emissions, and have pervasive effects on land use and air quality. Research by scientists at IIM Lucknow shares how motorized traffic volume in India could touch the mark of 13000 billion passenger-km by 2020-21 and CO2 emissions are expected to increase from 19.80 million metric tons in 2000-01 to 93.25 million metric tons till 2020!
High gas prices coupled with consumer awareness about alternate powertrain technology is catapulting the popularity of hybrid cars. Automobile industry in India in recent years has therefore started to give more weightage to greener and eco friendly cars which will considerably reduce the level of carbon emissions.
Here’s our list of top five green cars that are friendlier to mother earth:
Mahindra Reva - Reva NXR is a beautiful car designed to give an enhanced driving experience without affecting the environment with harmful emissions and pollution. It is a Stylish 2 door hatchback electric car especially designed for the Indian users. This electric car will keep you free from tensions of petrol and diesel prices touching the skies, rather it will give an environment friendly alternative to go for. Reva NXR is priced at 4.5 – 5 lakh in India. Reva NXR has a range of 200kms on a fully charged battery at a maximum speed of 130kmph.
Toyota Prius - The Toyota Prius, the most successful gas-electric hybrid and one of the first green cars around the world, went on sale in 1997. An intelligent hybrid system and an electric motor gives both better mileage and decreases production of harmful gasses in the environment. A Japanese car, Toyota Prius was launched in India in 2010 and is priced between 29.26 - 31.43 lakhs.
Maruti Suzuki Eco Charge – India’s car market leader for years, Maruti Suzuki turned green in 2010 when it came up with its first ever electric car called Eco Charge. Although a latest version of the car called the Eeco was launched in December 2012. The CNG variant of the car ensures that you are polluting the environment even lesser. This seven seater is one of the cheapest (3.06-4.14 lakh) family cars available in the Indian market. Can be fully charged in seven hours and can achieve a top speed of 110kmph.
Chevrolet Aveo and Beat– The Chevrolet Aveo is a family car that is designed to save both your fuel cost and the environment. Chevrolet claims that this green car (variant 1.3VCDi) emits under 120g/kg of CO2. Chevrolet’s other electric variant, called the Electric Beat is powered by a lithium-ion battery and can go at least 130 km in a single charge under normal driving conditions. Aveo and Beat Electric is priced at 7 and 9 lakh respectively.
Tata Nano CNG emax – The latest in the line of eco friendly cars, Tata Motors’s environmental free Nano CNG version was launched just last month. Experts claim this little wonder even friendlier than the previous versions. No one's ever complained about the Nano not being fuel-efficient, but if you need to save more money, emax is your savior. This car emits only 75.6gm of CO2 per kilometer. Though, experts still debate on the environmental impacts of CNG cars since they too operate on exhaustible resource like other petrol versions. Anyhow, the emax is on sale now for Rs 2.52 lakh for the CX variant, and Rs 2.77 lakh for the top-end LX.
