Nissan’s scarce Leaf tops green cars of 2011

Automotive valuation guide Kelly Blue Book named the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle  the top green vehicle of 2011.

Kelly Blue Book is a widely used guide for car shopping — with terms like “blue book” and “blue book value” actually trademarked when referring to prices for a car.  The company said the Leaf won out with a “ground-breaking combination of range, room and price.” The Chevy Volt, an electric car with a range-extending gas engine, came in behind the Leaf as the second best green car of 2011.

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But only 453 Leaf vehicles have made it stateside to date. There are around 20,000 active reservations in the U.S. for the Nissan Leaf. And Nissan seems to face a setback in the Leaf’s production every time it turns around — whether it’s a glitch in the system or a massive earthquake that stalls the car’s production line. The Leaf is an ambitious electric vehicles with a low (by electric vehicle standards) price tag — still a hefty $33,000 — designed to attract more casual drivers to the electric car market and labeled by Kelly Blue Book as the first electric car for the masses.

Here’s a list of the top 10 electric cars of 2011, according to Kelly Blue Book:

1. 2011 Nissan Leaf: 99 miles per gallon equivalent
2. 2011 Chevy Volt: 93 miles per gallon equivalent
3. 2011 Toyota Prius: 50 miles per gallon (51 city, 48 highway)
4. 2011 Lexus CT 200h: 42 miles per gallon (43 city, 40 highway)
5. 2011 Honda Insight: 41 miles per gallon (40 city/43 highway)
6. 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid: 39 miles per gallon (41 city/36 highway)
7. 2011 Volkswagen Golf TDI: 34 miles per gallon (30 city/42 highway)
8. 2011 Hyundai Elantra: 33 miles per gallon (29 city, 40 highway)
9. 2012 Fiat 500: 33 miles per gallon (30 city/38 highway)
10. 2012 Ford Focus: 31 miles per gallon (28 city/38 highway)