Autoblog

Fisker Karma gets EPA certified: 52 mpge, 32-mile electric range, 20 mpg on gas

Sebastian Blanco — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:55:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Government/Legal, Fisker, Electric

Yikes. The EPA has finally released its official fuel economy rating for the Fisker Karma, and it's not high: just 52 MPGe, an all-electric range of 32 miles and 20 miles per gallon on gasoline when the battery runs dry. This is well below the numbers that Fisker reps were bandying about in past years: 67.2 mpge and an all-electric range of 50 miles.

American conservatives - who really have it out for plug-in hybrids that the federal government helped fund with loan guarantees - are already calling the Karma's numbers a "flop." It's kind of hard to say if that's the right word to use since luxury car buyers probably won't be turned off by these figures - 20 mpg is nothing surprising for the class - but we agree that the PHEV needed to be more efficient when running on gasoline to truly impress us on the green front. At least a 32-mile electric range isn't all that shabby, and company CEO and co-founder Henrik Fisker said he still thinks most drivers will beat the EPA estimate and be able to wring 50 electric miles out of their $95,900-plus cars.

Whatever they are, the numbers do contain some good news for Fisker. With EPA certification now in the bag, sales can officialy begin. Fisker said the first sales marked a "major milestone" and that his company "can deliver many more of these truly amazing automobiles to customers during the remainder of 2011 and for many years to come." The first 39 Karmas should be rolling out "now-ish" to dealers for use at demonstration vehicles and the first customer vehicles should arrive from Finland in about two weeks.

Continue reading Fisker Karma gets EPA certified: 52 mpge, 32-mile electric range, 20 mpg on gas

Fisker Karma gets EPA certified: 52 mpge, 32-mile electric range, 20 mpg on gas originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Chevy Volt gets 93 mpge (and 37 mpg and 60 mpg) rating from EPA

Autoblog Staff — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:31:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

After yesterday's 99 miles per gallon (equivalent) EPA rating for the Nissan Leaf, General Motors had to be eager to get the numbers for the Chevy Volt from the government - if for no other reason than because these efficiency stickers are the last thing holding up deliveries of the first production vehicles.

Today, GM shared the official numbers with the world, and they range from 37 miles per gallon to 93 mpge (equivalent) combined to 60 mpg "composite." Sixty mpg composite is a "combined, combined" number, and will be completely different for everyone. You might want to think of it as a lifetime figure, since it accounts for both electricity and gasoline consumed. Oh, and it's also best in class for compact cars. The Volt's official electric-only range will be 35 miles, but GM, like Nissan, has been giving a range recently of 25-50 miles. The Volt now has an official total range of 379 miles, with 344 miles of that being extended range (i.e., gas) driving. As Tony DiSalle, Chevrolet product marketing director, said, "If you try to boil it down to a single number, it gets quite difficult."

Doug Parks, Chevrolet Volt Global Vehicle Line Executive, said he is "quite pleased" with the numbers and understands that it is a complicated story to tell. GM and the EPA worked together to come up with this label to figure in all of the different modes that impact the vehicle's efficiency. We've heard that the 2011 Volt will have a temporary EPA label, but Parks told us that what you see above will likely be what we see in next year, saying "Our intent was not to do something that was a one-year deal. Our hope is that this is very similar to the path that everyone will go down in the future. We tried to make the label look as similar as it can to next year."

So, what about that "230 mpg" GM touted last year. Well, that was a different way to calculate things. "230 by itself was never intended to be a composite number," Parks said.

[Source: General Motors]

2011 Chevy Volt gets 93 mpge (and 37 mpg and 60 mpg) rating from EPA originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nissan Leaf snags 99 mpg rating on official EPA sticker

Autoblog Staff — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:29:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Hatchback, Nissan, Electric

As far as we know, the first production Chevrolet Volt models are still awaiting their official EPA stickers. Nissan, though, has received the details on what the government agency has rated its all-electric Leaf at, and it looks good: a combined rating of 99 miles per gallon (equivalent) which breaks down into 106 city/92 highway. The official EPA range for the car is 73 miles, which Nissan admits is a variable (we know it can be beaten), and the annual electric cost is estimated at $561. The Leaf is the first vehicle to get this new label, Nissan spokesperson Katherine Zachary told AutoblogGreen that 99 mpg puts the Leaf way in front into the "best" fuel efficiency rating for mid-size vehicle class. It'll be interesting to see how Nissan uses this in upcoming advertisements, especially since the company has called the car a compact in the past.

So, how does the EPA calculate mpg for an electric car? Nissan's presser says the EPA uses a formula where 33.7 kWhs are equivalent to one gallon of gasoline energy. Also, the EPA determined the Leaf's efficiency is 3.4 miles per kWh, another number you can easily beat while driving, as the driver info screen can prove. Since the Leaf has a 24 kWh battery pack and can go, officially, 73 miles, then, the EPA says, it could theoretically go 99 miles if it had a 33.7 kWh pack (and everything else about the car remained the same). Make sense?

Maybe, but the car will also have another label from the Federal Trade Commission that it applies to all alternative fuel vehicles. That sticker will show that the Leaf gets 96 to 110 miles of range, so don't trust everything you see. Check out Nissan's official press release after the jump for more details.

Gallery: 2011 Nissan Leaf: First Drive

Photos copyright (C)2010 Damon Lavrinc / AOL

[Source: Nissan]

Continue reading Nissan Leaf snags 99 mpg rating on official EPA sticker

Nissan Leaf snags 99 mpg rating on official EPA sticker originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EPA issues first-ever fuel efficiency and emissions standard proposal for heavy-duty vehicles

Sebastian Blanco — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:58:00 EST

Filed under: Truck, Government/Legal, Work, Specialty, Diesel

As expected, the EPA has released its first-ever proposal for greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles. The proposal, and that's all it is at this point, would create three new categories for heavy trucks: combination tractors, heavy-duty pickups and vans, and vocational vehicles. The rules will cover on-road vehicles with a gross vehicle weight at or above 8,500 pounds, unless these vehicles are already covered under CAFE. All of these proposals would start with the 2014 model year and make some big improvements relatively soon. The EPA is working with the DOT and NHTSA on the joint standards, which will have two types of metrics.

For pick-ups and vans, the metric will be gram per mile (and gallon per 100-miles) based on payload.
For vocational vehicles and combination tractors, the standards are gram per ton-mile (and gallon per 1,000 ton-mile).

Each of the three categories has different targets.

Combination tractors (commonly known as semi trucks) would get new engine and vehicle standards and, according to the EPA, "achieve up to a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption by 2018 model year," compared to a 2010 baseline.
Heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans would fall under emissions rules that are similar to the rules that govern light-duty trucks and passenger cars. There would be separate gasoline and diesel standards that would, "achieve up to a 10 percent reduction for gasoline vehicles and 15 percent reduction for diesel vehicles by 2018 model year (12 and 17 percent respectively if accounting for air conditioning leakage)."
For vocational vehicles, the proposed standards would reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions up to 10 percent by 2018 model year.

(This post continues after the jump.)

Continue reading EPA issues first-ever fuel efficiency and emissions standard proposal for heavy-duty vehicles

EPA issues first-ever fuel efficiency and emissions standard proposal for heavy-duty vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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REPORT: EPA planning to address outlandish fuel economy claims of electric cars

Dan Roth — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Marketing/Advertising

The EPA is aware that range-extended electric vehicles can game the current fuel economy test to deliver mileage estimates way up in the stratosphere. It makes for impressive advertising, like General Motors' touting of the Chevrolet Volt's estimated 230 mpg, but the EPA wants to give a more realistic reflection of the fuel efficiency of these types of cars, and it's not alone.

According to USA Today, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory would like the EPA's new formula to provide buyers information about the efficiency of the vehicle on either of its two fuels, providing two different numbers. An Israeli company also wants more data, pushing for three pieces of information: electricity used when fully charged, electricity consumed to top off the batteries, and how much fuel the range-extending gasoline engine uses when pressed into service.

The new ratings are important to consumers and automakers alike. If accurate, these new ratings would give buyers more insight into what they can actually expect to get. For now, carmakers are holding their breath to determine just what they'll be able to get away with claiming when advertising... let the lobbying begin!

[Source: USA Today]

REPORT: EPA planning to address outlandish fuel economy claims of electric cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Ford, AdAge chide GM over 230 MPG Chevrolet Volt MPG projection

Sebastian Blanco — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:58:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising, Chevrolet, Ford, GM

The Chevrolet Volt's 230 mpg number continues to be questioned. The latest to criticize is Bill Ford, who takes issue not only with the General Motors-approved 230 figure, but also Nissan's claim that its Leaf EV will get 367 mpg. The real culprit here, Ford said, is the EPA's methodology, which he argues is meaningless. "This question devolves into madness," Ford reportedly told Green Car Advisor:

"The government will have to come up with a meaningful number for customers - a user-friendly label. And I think they will. I can't dispute that number, but I'm not sure it's relevant to the customer either."

Ford also said that since his company doesn't "have any particular expertise in batteries," they'll probably buy the batteries from established manufacturers for their own electrified cars.

Speaking of relevance, Advertising Age, the publication that was first to guess that the whole 230 teaser campaign was a GM plot, has determined that the stunt was a bad idea. The big problems it sees with the campaign are that it often gave people the wrong idea (that 230 would be the U.S.'s new a standard voltage for outlets) and didn't give people enough breadcrumbs to follow to the Volt. It created more questions than answers, until the big reveal last week. In any case, the whole thing was targeted at a younger, hipper audience, but are these the people who have $40,000+ to buy a Volt?

Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt

[Sources: Green Car Advisor, Advertising Age]

Bill Ford, AdAge chide GM over 230 MPG Chevrolet Volt MPG projection originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EPA backs away from GM claim of 230 mpg for Volt

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Government/Legal, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

2011 Chevy Volt - Click above for high-res image gallery

Apparently, we're not the only ones trying to figure out the exact methodology that was used to determine the supposed 230 mile per gallon city rating claimed by General Motors for the upcoming Chevy Volt. In response to a query from the boys at Green Car Advisor, the EPA issued the following statement:

EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future - an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs. We're proud to see American companies and American workers leading the world in the clean energy innovations that will shape the 21st century economy.

Although it deserves noting that GM CEO Fritz Henderson didn't exactly say the 230 mpg rating was an official figure from the EPA, it sure is being bandied about as if it were gospel in the huge marketing campaign launched ahead of today's announcement.

When contacted for comment, GM told AutoblogGreen that the EPA is not backing away from the 230 numbers and that it's unlikely that the EPA will come out with a much lower number when they actually get to run a Volt through the official cycle. Further, GM believes that coming out with the 230 rating at this point in time is one way to change people's perception of what kind of car the Volt is.

Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt

[Source: EPA via Green Car Advisor]

EPA backs away from GM claim of 230 mpg for Volt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Commercial Appeal: Ford Transit Connect gets higher-than-expected EPA rating of 22/25

Sam Abuelsamid — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:29:00 EST

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Work, Ford

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Transit Connect

Ford is making an interesting habit of giving low-ball estimates regarding the mileage of their new vehicles, only to later announce final EPA numbers that are higher by several miles per gallon. This happened with the Fusion Hybrid which was estimated at 39 miles-per-gallon city and then ended up at 41 mpg city. The latest example is the new Transit Connect compact van. When Ford announced the US bound production version just before the Chicago Auto Show, product development boss Derrick Kuzak estimated it would get 20 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. The EPA has now finished its data analysis and come up with even better numbers: 22 mpg around town and 25 mpg on the motorways. Not too shabby for a vehicle with this much room inside and only a four speed automatic transmission.

Gallery: 2010 Ford Transit Connect

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Commercial Appeal: Ford Transit Connect gets higher-than-expected EPA rating of 22/25

Commercial Appeal: Ford Transit Connect gets higher-than-expected EPA rating of 22/25 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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