With gas prices climbing ever higher and the public becoming ever more environmentally conscious, automotive companies will soon be pressured to manufacture more environmentally friendly vehicles. Over the past decade the automotive industry has taken strides towards manufacturing more environmentally friendly vehicles with the production of hybrids and smart cars. However, this is no longer enough. People will soon expect automotive companies to sale vehicles that virtually run without the need of gas and have an extremely low carbon footprint when compared with a traditional vehicle. Nissan and Volkswagen are two automotive companies already designing and, in the case of Nissan, producing these vehicles. In December of 2010 Nissan began selling the fully electric Nissan Leaf. Leaf is an acronym that stands for Leading Environmentally friendly Affordable Family car. While the Leaf has some negative environmental effects during the charging phase due to electricity consumption likely being powered by fossil fuels, the Leaf produces no tailpipe pollution or greenhouse gas emissions at the point of operation. It has been reported that the Leaf has a 99 mile per gallon gasoline equivalent. Earlier this year Volkswagen unveiled its upcoming super hybrid sports car. The car known as the Volkswagen XL1 is still under development and will not begin selling until 2013. The XL1 is a two passenger supercar with the capabilities of reaching speeds of 100 mph. While those numbers are impressive, the most impressive number associated with this hybrid is the ability to drive 235 miles on one gallon of gasoline. Other companies in the automotive industry will surely follow this trend making driving a much more sustainable activity.
Link to article about XL1: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/reviews/hybrid-electric/volkswagen-xl1-test-drive-1-liter-235-mpg
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