Green Wheels

Top speed is OK ... if you're a racecar. If you're an electric car, the speed that's more important is charging time. In this regard, the new 2012 Ford Focus Electric has some bragging rights.

This month Ford proudly revealed that the new 2012 Ford Focus Electric will be the first all-electric five-seat vehicle to achieve a fuel efficiency rating of 100 MPGe. This sneaks it just ahead of Nissan LEAF, with a 99 MPGe rating, but a fair shot below the four-seat Mitsubishi i-MiEV, with its 112 MPGe rating.

In the world of popular mid-size sedans, the 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid claims to be the current fuel-efficiency champ. Whether that claim is sustained or not (and it won't, when the 2012 Camry Hybrid will arrive), the Fusion Hybrid is tremendously pleasing to drive and remarkably quiet, yet it's up against some pretty fierce competition such as the Toyota Camry, Kia Optima and Hyundai Sonata to name but a few.

he hybrid family sedan market is a challenging, low-volume segment that's seen the demise of hybridized cars like the Honda Accord Hybrid and Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid after just a few model years. After 2011, the Nissan Altima Hybrid is joining the great big hybrid car highway in the sky, too.