How to Buy an Eco-Friendly Car

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The new influx of eco-friendly car options can be daunting. While most of us are aware of the damage that cars do the environment, the push for greener car choices is still in the preliminary stages in the car market. This isn’t to say that the cars aren’t selling, only that the choices and information on them may not be clear enough to make an easy selling choice to the consumer. Here are some tips on the specifics of green car buying to make the choice a little easier.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step1

Look for a hybrid. The most well-known name in eco-friendly cars thanks to the past few years’ marketing push in this direction by many car companies, the hybrid offers a lot to the potential consumer. They capture potential energy in their batteries whenever the car stops. These cars get great gas mileage--around 60 mpg for highway and they are quiet and run on traditional gas, so can be refueled like normal cars, although less frequently. This being said, there are few choices for this type of car, so selection is minimal at best and the prices can be a lot higher than traditional models. The battery life, which prolongs the MPG ratio, is also debatable.

Step2

Try biodiesel fuel. If you want a traditional car model, but still want to do better for the environment, then try biodiesel fuel. A blend of traditional diesel and vegetable oil, it can be fluctuated in your tank with regular gas if you are not near a biodiesel fueling station. Biodiesel gives off lower emissions, can be used in a lot of car models, and costs little more than traditional fuels. The cons mainly lie in the after effects of the fuels choice--you may have to change out your oil filter more often and they can still cause smog. Cold weather can affect performance depending on the vegetable oil content in your fuel and there are limited SUV and truck options that use biodiesel fuel.

Step3

Consider ethanol. A wheat-based fuel additive, E85 is the most popular form of this fuel meaning that it is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol increases the octane in your fuel and decreases emissions and costs less that traditional gasoline. The models that use ethanol are versatile and E85 can be switched out with traditional gasoline and there are several vehicle choices. However, the locations refueling stations for E85 are varied, depending on your home state. Check out the locations of E85 stations to see if you can take advantage of the benefits of this fuel.