June’s Most Popular Green Car

By now it’s a tradition: We celebrate the last day of the month by running down the most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com. For June, only a single Top Five post from May survived–and last month’s # 1 piece didn’t show up at all.

This month, it’s all about electric cars:

# 1: . We were one of the very few publications to ride in the Coda prototype, which was being shown mostly to investors. It took awhile, but this post is our most-viewed page by a margin of 2 to 1. Bottom Line: In our 20 minutes with the 2011 Coda Sedan, it performed fine, looked OK (if hardly striking), and clearly needed more work on refinement and dashboard design–which the CEO says is already underway.

# 2: . This one dates back to late April, and didn’t even rank last month. Electric cars must be a rising meme. Bottom Line: Our 20 minutes in the Coda, above, was an eternity compared to our 3-minute ride in the prototype. It’s luxurious inside, accelerates well even though it felt heavy, and clearly wowed the crowd. But now that , we suspect the Model S may change rather a lot before it hits showrooms.

# 3: . We’ve followed the fortunes of Coda since well before GreenCarReports.com even launched. It paid off for this detailed post. Bottom Line: The 2011 Coda Sedan, a Chinese-built, all-electric compact with a lithium-ion battery pack good for a claimed 100 miles, will launch into the southern California market roughly a year from now. The $45,000 price will be offset by a $7,500 Federal tax credit plus various state incentives. This post offers the complete backstory of the company and the car.

# 4: . Now that the compromise , this older item fell somewhat. But clunkers continue to be a popular topic. Bottom Line: Old vehicles traded in must achieve combined EPA ratings of 18 mpg or worse, and their replacements must come in at 22 mpg or better. The largest tax credit ($4,500) is granted for the highest improvement in fuel economy. Cars, light , and other vehicles have separate rules.

# 5: Even a hint of raising the gasoline tax is sure to generate controversy. But 265 Diggs later, this one has spawned more comments than any other story we’ve done. Bottom Line: Adding 2 cents to every gallon of gasoline would raise $400 billion to cover the shortfall in funds for US street, bridge, and highway repairs. But a new transportation bill just got kicked 18 months down the road by the Obama administration, and no one has come up with a better proposal. This one is likely to generate many more articles in months to come.