Why show MPG for electric cars?

[ik04]

I see the MPG chart full of cars that get NO Miles Per Gallon! If we need to show how far an electric car will go on a specific charge or Ampere-Hour consumption, let's do that. MPG is a measure of FUEL economy. I would like to see the top hypermilers on the list, but it is full of EVs and that is cool if you want to know how EV drivers are doing...

Can we have two lists; one showing MPG and another dedicated to EVs?

Thanks!

[deathtrain]

There is on for EV your are talking about the hybrids. I have often looked at the list to see what i need to do to climb that ladder. But I am in the top 10 for % over EPA. and I like that list. It makes me really work hard to climb it. Once i get my gauges in I will be able to better understand what is going on with it. Then it is one too areo mods, I think that will put me up on the ladder more.

DOnt get caught up on this anyway. just work on yourself and try to better yourself. you will get more out of this website that way. Just read, learn and in time give advice...and above all have fun.

[redyaris]

Although most of us determin quit quickly that many of the high mpg figures are for electric cars, I agree that the electric only cars should have a small "e" placed behind the mpg figure to indicate 'equivelent' for clairity. hybrids are in the same catagorey as the rest of us liquid consuming fuel vehicles. The real difficulty is plug in hybrids...

[NeilBlanchard]

Wh/mile would work for EV's. But how would you then compare it to hybrids, or ICE powered cars?

The MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) uses a BTU equivalency of various fuels and electricity to make it possible to compare E10, E85, diesel, hybrids, plugin hybrids, and "pure" electric cars, in a way that is familiar to most people. It isn't perfect, but it seems to be the best way to do this.

[jason1973tl]

Why don't we just go with an overall efficiency number. For example take whatever car you want and subtract powertrain and driveline losses to get an overall number. For example a Nissan Leaf may be 88% efficient overall and a Versa maybe 45%. None of the current numbers on anything tell you how far you will go on a tank or charge now so the numbers are really meaningless in the real world anyways.

[NeilBlanchard]

The EPA sticker tells you average range, cost savings, etc.

By the way, the Versa is probably ~25-30% overall. Diesels approach 43-44%, but only in the engine in completely ideal conditions. The Prius is 38% at best.

[ik04]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Wh/mile would work for EV's. But how would you then compare it to hybrids, or ICE powered cars?

The MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) uses a BTU equivalency of various fuels and electricity to make it possible to compare E10, E85, diesel, hybrids, plugin hybrids, and "pure" electric cars, in a way that is familiar to most people. It isn't perfect, but it seems to be the best way to do this.

That is my point. Stop comparing electric powered vehicles to ICE vehicles. There is no valid comparison between what a consumer product (car/motorcycle) consumes in fuel and the cost of powering a battery powered or plugin vehicle. It is apples and oranges.

The electric current required to charge an EV is produced upstream at either a coal/solar/hydro/wind/nuclear/natural gas power plant or at a small-scale home made power plant. Unless the energy fairy magically runs your car, the vehicle is truly powered by these sources.

That said, I would like to see real-world FUEL economy shown on the MPG list because that fuel is coming out of my wallet and I am trying my best to get way above sticker fuel mileage out of my car.

Maybe a realistic cost per mile regardless of fuel or electric source would be a universal comparison. The problem there is the wildly variable cost of power/fuel/fairy dust around the world. My Mercedes only gets about 25 miles per gallon of fuel, but the fuel costs me nothing because it is donated motor oil, transmission fluid and vegetable oil...

My Volkswagen Lupo is now getting between 68 and 75 Miles per US Gallon without even trying to hypermile the thing. I know it will do better...

[NeilBlanchard]

Gasoline doesn't just appear out of thin air, either.

Both electricity and gasoline (and diesel, etc.) have additional energy that is not counted in the consumption per mile in the car.

[jason1973tl]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Gasoline doesn't just appear out of thin air, either.

Both electricity and gasoline (and diesel, etc.) have additional energy that is not counted in the consumption per mile in the car.

That is wonderfully put. I will have to remember that quote in the future. Very short and gets the point across.

Given how much cheaper an EV is to charge than a gas car is to fill up maybe it should read how much it will cost to go 100 miles based on x price per unit.
I have seen electric builds that run 100 miles on a 2 dollar charge at 15 cents per kwh. My van uses 20 dollars to run the same distance at 4 dollars per gallon.

[wanna bECO]

I agree with OP. I would also like to see a list of ICE vehicles only. It would be very motivating. Even the honda insight has been bumped off the list. I don't think having this list would be that hard, would it?