Once a year, Green Car Reports takes a closer look at the best and brightest green cars on the market—models that help ensure a cleaner future.
One of these will be titled Green Car Report The Best Car to Buy in 2025 on Jan. 6. Read on for a quick summary of each and a quick summary of our priorities, then check back for a closer look at each of them over the next few weeks.
2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV
Sometimes it's easy: The 2025 Chevy Equinox EV costs $34,995 with 319 miles of EPA range, in a car that's sized and shaped like a popular family vehicle—the wagon-like SUV. Even before the $7,500 EV tax credit, the Equinox EV equals the benefit of ridding your family of gas pumps and tailpipes. Simply put, it's on this list because it makes electric cars affordable for mass market car buyers not in passenger car form, but in one they can pack the whole family into.
2025 Hyundai Kona Electric
Where have all the small but efficient, urban-savvy EVs gone? The closest new we have to the American market, this year is the Hyundai Kona Electric. It's not a dedicated electric vehicle, but it could be one as it outperforms the gasoline Kona in performance and driveability. For the base Kona Electric SE, Hyundai offers a 48.6-kwh battery pack that will be great for commuters, at 200 miles EPA, while the SEL and Limited versions get a 64.8-kwh pack and a range of 261 miles. Advanced cabin trim and sensible updates to cabin technology equate to a car that's easy to park but not short on amenities.
2024 Porsche Macan EV
The Taycan, which was known as the Mission E until it was almost ready for delivery, began as a special project, which would take on Tesla and envision a fully electric future for this class of storied sports cars. But now Porsche is carrying those smarts from its electric experiments into its best-selling model, the Macan SUV. With a new platform that learns from the Taycan's true range and efficiency shortcomings, downsizes key components to save weight, and increases speed performance, pricing, and brake regeneration—along with rear-wheel steering and air suspension for the rest of the lineup—the Macan EV looks like the heart of the Porsche and SUVs are very efficient.
2025 Rivian R1S
We usually reserve our Best Car to Buy finalists for completely new or heavily redesigned or redesigned models. So why did we list the R1S a few years after it was first delivered to customers? You need to look past the very good looks of Rivian's R1 models to find out why it's here. It is here because it is better in every way.
With redesigned battery packs, engines, and bodywork, as well as simplified electrical structures, updated sensing, and a flat interface, these advanced electric trucks have gained ground. In everything from performance to ride and handling, the R1S does it better and more efficiently. It may not yet deliver the 800-volt or double charging that Rivian said was on the way—or any significant charging—but it's innovative in design and the range of technologies it can scale up and use in its mass-market R2 and R3. models.
2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
Unless you've been living in the suburbs, cut off from pop culture for decades, you've no doubt heard the news: VW is bringing back the Bus as an EV. It's a smart move, as it lures you in with a faint nostalgia from a 1960s counterculture icon, draws you into modernity, and leaves you wrapped up in a different kind of family car—the first electric pickup on the US market and, perhaps, a family car. the start of a new EV segment.
All that said, there's a lot of good and bad to be mixed up. The ID.Buzz took a long time to arrive in the US, but it only comes here in a taller, three-line version with a higher price tag. Despite the larger battery that fumbles on the floor, its EPA range numbers come in at just 234 miles. But with available all-wheel drive, perky performance, and a decent interface, it covers all the performance bases without muting all the buzz.
2024 Kia EV9
How We Determine the Best Car to Buy Green Car Reports
A combination of peer-reviewed papers and reputable scientific sources agree that in most general use cases, electric vehicles are better for the environment.
We know that assembling an electric vehicle, making the battery, and sourcing its components add to the vehicle's carbon footprint. These impacts are sort of offset against fuel over the several years of EV service life, but when looking at any EV we consider the size of the battery and whether it is really necessary for the purpose of the vehicle.
In avoiding tailpipe emissions, the results in your community and home health are immediate and positive.
Efficiency is the priority
Of course, range is important for an EV, but short-range models with smaller battery packs can be among the greener choices for some households. With families making fully electric second (and third) cars, who needs all that range in every car?
Yes, we picked the reigning category champion, the Lucid Air, two years ago, but it wouldn't have made it to the top if it hadn't been one of the best performing EVs.
2024 Tesla Model 3
Big market impact—now or long lens
A Best Buy Car needs to make a big impact (short or long term) on the market. That can be interpreted as seeking volume and accessibility, creating a new segment of the electricity market, or setting a new standard of efficiency or technology. It has to be the best, but as we've seen from past Best Car To Buy winners, that can take many different forms.
PHEVs in the snow
Green Car Reports continues to cover hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology in cars, and we respect that an all-or-nothing approach isn't always the best way to electrify or convince the mass market to choose more. environmentally friendly vehicles. At best the next best option is often better than no green choice at all.
Crossing the loopholes of using active models of controllers with a charging port, plug-in hybrids are always an interesting choice, especially if the charging infrastructure will not meet the needs of weekend trips but drivers are committed to maintaining zero-tailpipe emissions on the commute. . Efficiency-oriented PHEVs come with 40, 60, or more miles of all-electric range. Will they convince a new type of consumer to connect?
All that said, putting another internal combustion car into service, as a source of potential emissions for decades, sets a high bar for making our Best Car to Buy short list. And there aren't just any new ones this year that make the cut.