The leadership at the Raceway in Sonoma and a team of graduate students at Dominican University are building a bridge between concepts often seen as incompatible in the auto racing industry: performance and sustainability.
The Sustainable Performance Ranking Metric, aimed at ordinary consumers, rates vehicles' sustainability and performance, both on a scale of 1 to 5, and then adds the two scores together for a "sustainable performance" score from 1 to 10. The group aims to have those rankings posted on cars to help customers who want the best of both worlds.
"There's really not that blended metric that consumers can look at and say, &‘I'm really interested in performance, but I want something sustainable,'" said Steve Page, president and general manager of the raceway.
Joey Shepp, a consultant to the raceway and sustainable programs director at Dominican University, unveiled the metric Friday at the second annual Accelerating Sustainable Performance Summit at the raceway.
"Consumers are typically categorized as either green or high-performance," Shepp said at the conference. "It's rare that you see a car that does both. ... but what about the consumer who wants both?"
Using data from www.edmunds.com and www.fueleconomy.gov, the group considered vehicle miles per gallon and emissions for sustainability, and assessed horsepower, torque and power-to-weight ratio for performance. Cars included in the ratings cost $60,000 or less and are broken down into vehicle classes and price ranges.
"These are the ones that are mass produced, achievable to the mainstream," Shepp said.
The Ford Mustang had the highest rating of the sedans and coupes, with a 2.4 on the sustainability and a 5.0 on performance, resulting in a total sustainable performance ranking of 7.4.
"It's actually a very powerful car with a light frame, and if you drive it without a lead foot it can get good mileage," Shepp said.
The Toyota Camry LE Hybrid had the second-highest score among sedans and coupes, with an overall score of 7.3.
The Toyota Highlander Hybrid topped the sports utility vehicles and trucks category, with an overall score of 7.7
But trucks and SUVs were compared to others in the same class, and sedans don't earn higher sustainability scores than trucks, despite having better gas mileage. The group does have an overall ranking of all vehicles, but that may be released later when additional data is included in the analysis, Shepp said.
"Consumers usually choose a class of vehicle first," Shepp explained. "I've got five kids, and I live on a dirt road. I need an SUV."
Eventually the group plans to include additional data on sustainability including lifecycle analysis, drag coefficient, and a metric called "passenger mile," which takes into account the vehicle's mileage with more than one passenger on board. For performance, the group hopes to include data on the time the car takes to get from 0 to 60 miles per hour, braking, handling, safety ratings, and ranges and recharge times for electric vehicles. But that data isn't readily available, so the group is seeking partners to expand its data set.
Paul Erickson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis, reviewed the model for the group. He hopes it expands to include further emissions analysis and how carrying multiple passengers impacts mileage.
"These are the things we've got to take into account," Erickson said.
For more information go to: www.acceleratingsustainanleperformance.com.
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