2008 Toyota/Lexus Hybrids E-Mode
Toyota has plans to put plug-in Priuses on the road at some point with an extended range that can actually take you somewhere. In the meantime, the Toyota Highlander and the Lexus LS600hL get a button that allows you to lock the car into electric mode. Up to 25 mph, and until the nickel-metal hydride battery pack is depleted (about one mile), you are greener than a frat boy after six shots of Jäger. For up to 5280 feet, these cars are squeaky clean, no combustion products coating the tailpipe or rumbling exhaust note to startle dozing herons.
Once those batteries are depleted (or you give the accelerator anything more than the most modest poke), however, the gas engine purrs to life, and the situation gets a bit more carbon-black. In the case of the LS600hL, the accusation of “greenwashing” is well documented by a combined fuel mileage of 21 mpg and the fact that it produces more than twice the C02 emissions of the Prius. If Toyota allowed you to lock the Prius into electric-only drive, it would be on this list as a viable green option.
If your commute is less than one mile and requires nothing beyond first gear, you could indeed be greenish in a Highlander hybrid or LS600hL. You could also walk.
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