Chevy volt

Consumers constantly make trade-offs between fidelity and convenience, weighing the quality of an experience against the ease of getting that experience. We'll give up some fidelity to get more convenience, or vice versa. And the products that most people gravitate to -- the products that make people happiest -- tend to be either the most convenient or offer the highest fidelity.

A hundred years ago, that trade-off killed the electric car. And it's going to seriously hobble the Chevy Volt when it hits the market next year. That's because products that fall in the middle no-man's-land -- offering neither outstanding fidelity nor astonishing convenience -- struggle in the marketplace. And the Volt seems to be driving straight into that ditch.

With the success of the Toyota (TM) Prius and the mad dash into sustainable vehicle development, wearing a green mantle has become a key marketing tool for major automotive brands. As a result, the Greenest Car rankings, released on Sept. 24 by Whatgreencar.com, are getting a lot of attention. The site tabulated rankings based on several key data points including fuel efficiency and emissions.

The two big winners were Chevrolet and GMC, traditionally among the laggards due to their past heavy reliance on big trucks and big engines. According to the findings, Chevy managed to improve the environmental friendliness of its 2010 lineup by 20.3 percent and GM managed an impressive 15.3 percent improvement. Eco-icon Toyota, with its vaunted Prius hybrid, didn't even make the top 10. Go figure.

Silicon Valley electronic car darling Tesla Motors banked a profit of $1 million in July, based on $20 million in revenues brought in through delivery of 109 of its $109,000 sports cars.

I had the rare chance to drive a Tesla and can say that if I had a spare six-figure inheritance in my possession, I might well have coughed up for one of these beauties. The earnings this quarter could put to rest critics' claims that the company would never break out of the red.