Nissan Laughs at Chevy Volt 230 MPG Rating

Nissan, either to prove a point or to just steal GM's thunder, pointed out the Nissan Leaf, their new electric vehicle due out in 2010, will get 367 mpg by the EPA rating.

Too bad they're not going to use any gasoline.

In the meantime, the EPA won't back up GM's claim to 230 mpg since they haven't tested the Volt and won't for a while.

Of course, both numbers are ridiculous on the face of it. Rating an electric vehicle (which won't use any gasoline) or a plug-in hybrid (or E-REV which may never use any gasoline) for 230 mpg or 367 mpg is foolish in the extreme.

The EPA needs to come up with a different rating system for the plug-in and electric vehicles that are coming. Whether it's 230, 367, or 99,999 mpg, they still aren't using fuel the way they used to and those numbers tell you absolutely nothing about what you're going to get from the vehicle.  How many people are going to buy the Chevy Volt and be really disappointed once they realize their car really gets only 40 mpg or less once the gas engine kicks in?