The world’s 7 greenest vehicles

Shrink That Footprint

According to Wikipedia a ‘vehicle’ is a:

mobile machine that transports passengers or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats and aircraft

But somehow a ‘green vehicle’ is a:

road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on gasoline or diesel

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Wikipedia, but I do find it a little ironic that ‘green vehicles’ are pigeon holed as cars. Because on a full lifecycle emissions basis cars really aren’t that green compared to other options.

Here’s my take on the world’s seven greenest vehicles.

7: The Nissan Leaf

I thought I’d be charitable and include a car.  After all a huge chunk of global passenger kilometers are from automobiles, so better cars are hugely important for the future.  I’ve plumped for the Nissan Leaf as it is the leading all-electric car in Japan, the US, UK, Norway . .  Using low carbon electricity electric car emissions are down around 50 g CO2e/pkm (passenger kilometre), almost all of which comes from vehicle manufacturing.

The nissan leaf

6: The Intercity Coach

It may surprise you, but the typical Stagecoach or Greyhound diesel bus can often have lower emissions per passenger kilometer than the best electric car.  That’s because intercity buses travel at efficient speeds on highways, have decent occupancy and tiny manufacturing emissions as they are spread over so many passengers.  I’ve seen a bunch of studies ranging from 35-85 g CO2e/pkm.

The Intercity Coach

5: The School Bus

This one is probably even more surprising, but school buses typically have quite low emissions.  Not because they are über efficient, or that they do smooth highway miles, but simply because they have such high occupancy.  Emissions per passenger kilometer are typically in the 20-50 g CO2e/pkm range.

The School Bus

4: High Speed Rail

High speed rail can be very low carbon, particularly with the right juice.  We’ve taken the Eurostar and TGV from London down to the Pyrenees a couple of times with emissions about a tenth of what a flight would have been.  The largely nuclear electricity in France means emissions of 17 g CO2e/pkm on their high-speed network.  Typically emissions are from 10-60 g CO2e/pkm depending on fuel source.

High Speed Rail

3: Light Urban Rail

Any form of electric train can provide very low carbon miles if it has the right juice.  Busy trams, metro or light rail systems can also have low emissions.  The example below is from Bergen in Norway, where hydro power is dominant.  Lifecycle emissions can range from 10-50 g CO2e/pkm depending on fuel source, efficiency and occupancy.

Light urban rail

2: The Electric Bike

Guess how many electric bikes there are in China today?  200 million!!  That number floored me when I first saw it.  Almost 30 million e-bikes will be sold in China this year alone.  That is about half the number of passenger cars globally.  In coal reliant China an electric bike has average lifecycle emissions of 22 g CO2e/pkm.  Depending on fuel mix they are typically in the range of 5-30 g CO2e/pkm.

Electric bike

1: The Flying Pigeon Bicycle

The ‘Flying Pigeon‘ is the most popular vehicle of all time.  More than 500 million have been produced since 1950.  Based on the 1932 Raleigh Roadster the popular model came in black, with one speed, 28 in (710 mm) wheels, a fully covered chain, sprung leather saddle, rear rack and rod brakes.  This is an old school classic.  In China, where the diet is relatively low carbon and electricity carbon intensive, this bike edges the eBike at around 10 g CO2e/pkm.

The flying pigeon

What is missing from the list?

This isn’t the most scientific of lists, and I get the feeling I must be missing some options?  You can get a better grip of the data in our 5 Elements of Sustainable Transport post.  The one thing that really surprised me in this post is the rise of electric bikes.  It is about 90% a China story currently, but the rate of growth in Brazil, Europe, India and even the US is really impressive.


Source: Shink That Footprint. Reproduced with permission.

Comments

14 responses to “The world’s 7 greenest vehicles”

  1. Fran Barlow Avatar
    Fran Barlow

    Nice article. Some questions/comments
    1. Is the Leaf calculated on the basis of one passenger (the driver) or multiples?
    2. Assume that almost any electric transport in Iceland would be very low emissions, given that nearly all their stationary power is hydro or geothermal. They also produce a lot of aluminium from renewables so manufacturing with this ought to be lower ceteris paribus
    3. I see why you’re using per passenger km … but isn’t it important to consider whether travel is discretionary or not? While a trip on the TGV down to the Pyrenees may be lower carbon due to nuclear power input, if people are just doing tourism, maybe the lower carbon thing would be to stay home. maybe the school bus fullof non-discretionary travellers beats the coach full of tourists?
    Anyway … interesting article.

    1. Lindsay Wilson Avatar
      Lindsay Wilson

      1. Generally use 1.6 passengers for cars
      2. Alcoa’s emissions are down 25% by moving smelting to places like Iceland
      3. This is a point, but would over complicate a deliberately simple piece

  2. Zvyozdochka Avatar
    Zvyozdochka

    Two Chinese bikes in the top two. There’s hope yet.

    It’s interesting to note that companies like Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford etc etc see themselves selling an accelerating rate of cars in China. Depressingly it’s certain to undo the efforts of those bike users.

  3. Ferdinand Swart Avatar

    So my e-bike (with hydro power) is even greener than a pushbike if a meat-eater rides it…….but how long the batteries last?

    1. Lindsay Wilson Avatar
      Lindsay Wilson

      Most studies show an eBike with low carbon power has lower lifecycle emissions than a cyclist of almost any diet. Just be sure to read ones that aren’t written by eBike manufacturers. Batteries . . . I’ve no idea

  4. ozzythaman Avatar
    ozzythaman

    the nissan: how can it be calculated if you dont even know how many people will use it?

    1. Lindsay Wilson Avatar
      Lindsay Wilson

      Use the standard 1.6 passenger is the best we can do

      1. ozzythaman Avatar
        ozzythaman

        🙂 the best you could do is say it is calculated for 1.6 people
        OR give the numbers for 1 and 5 people
        # people: 1 2 3 4 5
        CO2 grams per total passengers: 80 40 27 20 16
        you have given the range on almost all vehicles except for the nissan
        it turns out it is one of the better vehicles if used by 4-5 people all the time.
        and it says most emissions are from the production of the vehicle,
        i doubt that same consideration is taken into account for the other vehicles.
        cheers

        1. Lindsay Wilson Avatar
          Lindsay Wilson

          This is lifetime emissions, not per trip averages. In most countries average car occupancy is very close to 1.5. I’ve actually been very kind to the nissan, depending on the fuel mix of the electricity its range is actually about 45-200 g CO2e/pkm. All the others do in fact include manufacturing emissions. I have a study on electric vehicle emissions if you are interested http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/electric-car-emissions

    1. Lindsay Wilson Avatar
      Lindsay Wilson

      love the solar catamaran

  5. JD Avatar
    JD

    You have totally missed electric Scooters and Skateboards on this list… I’ve got an electric skateboard that goes 30klm per hour… On both electric scooters and electric bikes there is a 200 watt out put limit but my skateboard has a 600 watt out put… The laws haven’t been able to keep up with technology and I’m not complaining!!!

    One thing that really confuses me though… Why are there out put limits for electric vehicles while all cars can go on average double the max speed limits set by most countries???

    1. JD Avatar
      JD

      Also… I’ve never got my drivers licence… While younger I road my bike, walked or hitchhiked. Hitchhiking was great for long distances and it made people car pool… This is my first motorised vehicle and I’m 31!!! How’s that for being environmentally friendly! =P

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