I dont think most folks drive vehicles in any sense that the two could come up with a suitable design short of something with a battery reserve of 10-15 minutes. I think the Prius design was pretty dead on to meet or beat epa since it can sit with the ac on and not use any gas with its pack.
Ive driven a prius and for the first 10-15 minutes you are stuck in traffic it doesnt idle. After then with the ac on it idles just like the cars next to it and its mpg drops til you get up any real speed, then it builds back up the pack as well as mpg.
To really test the vehicles they should start any epa testing with 30 minutes of traffic. You know, move a thousand feet at up to 35 mph, stop for 7-10 minutes for a mile, then move to a 65mph mile loop for a few laps, then thats your mpg.
