The Most Fuel-Efficient Rental Cars

Thinking of buying an electric car, but don't know if it will fit your lifestyle? Want to try out some new green vehicular duds before plunking down serious purchase cash? Curious if the Ford Fusion Hybrid is better than your Prius? Perhaps a green rental—for as little as a few hours or even on an entire vacation—is in the cards?

Hybrids have been available for rent at major car rental companies for a several years now, but these days even electric cars are showing up for rent at more and more locations. There's never been this much choice in eco-friendly rental rides before. Far from simply being a way to save some fuel cash on vacation, green rentals are an easy way to test out more sustainable transportation before making a big purchase.

So, now you've got a fun—and green—weekend adventure planned? Great! But before you rush out to your closest rental location, be sure to check if they have the car you're looking for. At this point not all locations or companies support all the vehicles listed—Hertz and Enterprise have been the most forward thinking—but the choices are expanding at a break neck pace.

Some vehicles, such as the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt, are only available at a few locations across the entire U.S. right now and may only be available as hourly rentals through car sharing programs like Connect by Hertz or Enterprise's WeCar. The best bet is to plan ahead and check out your options first.

When looking over the list, the term "MPGe" may pop out as a new concept. It stands for "miles per gallon equivalent" and is a new measure established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to represent the efficiency of a car running on electricity. It's a conversion based on how much energy is stored in a gallon of gas compared to how much energy is stored in a kilowatt of electricity. Is it confusing? Yes, but it's the official way of measuring things now.