In an effort to get consumers the real numbers for the cost of owning and driving a plug-in vehicle the Society of Automotive Engineers, (SAE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (NREL), are finalizing their proposal to the EPA in which they recommend that there be two rating listed for plug-in automobiles: one measuring miles per gallon, (MPG), and the other measuring electricity per mile, (EPM).
The EPA currently combines gas and electricity mileage making the ratings appear artificially high, giving some cars unrealistic and sky high MPG figures. If you get to see them rated by electricity per mile and gallons per mile you can compare apples to apples with more realistic findings. Jeff Gonder, an NREL researcher says “If you combine them into one (number) artificially, you can’t derive a final output like annual costs.”
The NREL is also coming up with a new way to judge fuel efficiency with dynamometers. Since putting the car on the machine and seeing how far it can go until the tank is empty doesn’t reflect actual performance for plug-ins, the researchers are mimicking average driving behavior on the machines to come up with average yearly fuel costs.
