Electric Vehicles
Volt, Leaf Get EPA Stickers
Car buyers are used to seeing the window stickers that list the estimated miles per gallon. But what about when a car runs partially or completely on electricity? In the case of the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, that question has now been answered.
When it reaches showrooms in December, the Chevy Volt will have this label in the window. (Image By: General Motors)
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued window stickers for the first such mass-produced vehicles. It shows that with a fully charged battery, the plug-in hybrid Volt gets the equivalent of 93 mpg for the first 35 miles, after which the gasoline engine kicks in. The car uses 36 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 miles.
While the EPA contends that the electric mode is good for 35 miles, General Motors believes many drivers will do better. “I’m very confident that a lot of people will get 40 [miles] and above,” Doug Parks, Volt vehicle line executive, told the Detroit News.
The sticker also shows that in gasoline mode, the Volt gets 37 mpg for combined city and highway driving.
The all-electric Nissan Leaf also received its EPA sticker in late November and it did a bit better. The Leaf is estimated to get the equivalent of 99 mpg, using 34 kWh of electricity per 100 miles.
Because it runs only on electricity, the Leaf’s label is slightly different than the Volt’s. One difference is that the Leaf has an estimated annual cost of electricity, which the EPA puts at $561. The government reached that number based on driving 15,000 miles a year, and an electricity price of 12 cents per kWh.
Tags: Electric Vehicles