Nissan Leaf official EPA rating: 99 mpg-e combined, "best in midsize class"

[MetroMPG]

EPA Rates the All-Electric, Zero-Emission, Nissan LEAF 'Best' in Class for Fuel... -- FRANKLIN, Tenn., Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --

After five-cycle testing, MPG equivalent of ...

• 106 city, 92 highway for a combined 99 MPGe.
• Based on the EPA's formula of 33.7kW-hrs = 1 US gallon gasoline energy.
• EPA label also displays a charging time of seven hours on a 240V charge
• Driving range of 73 miles, based on the five-cycle tests using varying driving conditions and climate controls.

Electric is fine and dandy, but here's hoping this rating is the first step on the road to automakers competing to improve the efficiency of their EV's, just as we're seeing in the ICE marketplace. "Electron hog" is no better than "gas hog". And there's lots of room to improve the Leaf.

Anybody know offhand if the Tesla Roadster has an official EPA rating?

[vpoppv]

135 mpg according to Tesla. I wonder if they came up with the rating at the same time as the fine for not finding a tailpipe.....

Tesla Motors Begins Regular Production of 2008 Tesla Roadster | Press Releases | Tesla Motors

[MetroMPG]

135, eh? Hmm.

I'm not seeing Tesla actually listed on the EPA's fueleconomy.gov site.

I wonder if it has something to do with the volume of cars they (don't) sell.

[RobertSmalls]

340Wh/mi. I think we were all expecting much better than that.

The NYT article has a picture of the FE sticker:

[MetroMPG]

Of course, no doubt we could all get much better than 340 Wh/mi from it...

I'l say "good for Nissan." It's a start. But it's not particularly efficient.

[jasonck08]

A step in the right direction, but not that impressive for an electric car.... There are Diesel cars in Europe like the Toyota Yaris Diesel that gets around 60-70MPG highway... and its 1/2 the price!

Also even in California gas is $3/gallon right now.

Electricity is 10c per Kw/hr, so at 340W/mile that would be 87MPG as far as money is concerned.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Of course, no doubt we could all get much better than 340 Wh/mi from it...

I'l say "good for Nissan." It's a start. But it's not particularly efficient.

An automotive journalist recently got about 110 miles from a charge, or 225ish Wh/mi.

[Angmaar]

Nissan should have used a sedan body style instead of the SUV/Hatchback. It would be much more aerodynamic.

[04_Sentra]

Nissan's 2010 best offering was the Altima hybrid at 34mpg combined so the Leaf at 99mpge is almost 3x better. Not too shabby.

[NeilBlanchard]

Nick Chambers drove a Leaf 116 miles, and got ~197Wh/mile on average. And he used A/C for much of the time. Pump up the tires and do a few aero tweaks and do lots of coasting, and maybe one could get 150-160Wh/mile?

The Prius would cost $867 to go the same 15,000 miles at 50MPG:

Nissan Leaf rated at 99 miles per gallon equivalent - Nov. 22, 2010

So, the Leaf costs about 45% less to drive that the Prius (using the $0.12/kWh and ~$2.89/gal prices that the EPA appears to be using).

So, the EPA says that the Leaf is almost 2X more efficient than the second most efficient car -- so, while we were hoping for even better; we can't be too upset with Nissan!

Edit: Here's another site that would have gotten about 97 miles on a charge:

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/...electric-range