This isn't very recent news, but it's new to me. Apparently, the 2008 "Green Car of the Year" award from Green Car Journal was awarded to the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. The Tahoe Hybrid gets 21 mpg city and 22 mpg highway--better than other SUVs, but still terrible numbers. Yet Green Car Journal editor and publisher Ron Cogan gushes about the Tahoe:
“The importance of GM’s accomplishment can’t be overstated,” says Cogan. “For years, consumers have been buying SUVs in increasing numbers because of their functionality, making them the number one class of vehicle on the market. The problem has been obvious: With larger vehicles generally comes poorer fuel economy because of greater size and curb weight. An ‘equalizer’ has been needed…and the two-mode hybrid system in the Tahoe is clearly that equalizer.”To me, this award indicates that Americans are not serious about saving fuel or protecting our environment. Cogan cites SUVs' functionality. What exactly is their functionality? The amount of space inside hardly seems so important: the average number of riders in an American auto trip is 1.2. The most common function I hear from SUV apologists is that sedans are less safe in a crash... because so many of us are driving SUVs. Is it really important for us to be riding SUVs?
For too long, we've been stuck in the midset that we can have everything we want without making sacrifices. Well, we can't save our environment or our economy while refusing to give up single-occupancy SUVs. We need to get serious before it's too late for our environment--and for our wallets.
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