The Electric Car Patriots

From Energy and Capital's Jeff Siegel:

"The LEAF, as many of you now know, has just been given an EPA rating of 99 miles per gallon.

Granted, this is an all-electric car, so some fine-tuning was necessary in order to come up with a proper rating.

Essentially, the EPA's calculation is based on a formula of 33.7 kilowatt hours being equivalent to one gallon of gasoline energy. And after the completion of five-cycle testing, the EPA rated the vehicle with an MPG equivalent (MPGe) of 106 city/92 highway, for a combined 99 MPGe.

Now, I'm not going to get into a big debate over the particulars of these calculations. Because the truth is, these calculations will always vary...

For instance, someone lead-footing a LEAF up a series of hills and mountains with the air condition blasting is not going to get the same results as someone maintaining a slower speed on flat surfaces without a constant blast of arctic air shooting out of the vents.

It's really no different from what happens with a conventional vehicle. Certainly you've seen what mountain driving and maxed-out air condition can do to your fuel economy.

Nonetheless, I suspect we'll get a better idea of what the “average” miles per gallon equivalent will be after we have 20,000 new LEAF drivers reporting their results next year.

But in the meantime, don't expect electric vehicle critics to turn it down a notch."

Read more here.