Vehicle Mileage Estimates Get Real

That 55-mile-per-gallon hybrid car you’ve been eyeing may end up being a 44-mpg hybrid if you wait for the 2008 model.The federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a new system Monday for evaluating fuel economy that will lower mileage estimates for most vehicles.

On average, vehicles rated under the 2008 method will post a 12% drop in city gasoline mileage and an 8% decline in highway mileage, said Bill Wehrum, the EPA’s acting assistant administrator for air and radiation.

With the new testing requirements, the EPA is attempting to come up with estimates that more closely reflect the real-world mileage motorists can expect when they purchase a vehicle. […]

In part that’s because the agency’s current test doesn’t include much stop-and-go traffic or lead-footed acceleration. Air conditioners — notorious for lowering mileage by sucking up engine power — aren’t turned on, and all testing is done under conditions that simulate a 70-degree environment.

The new system will use more high-speed driving, partly in 20-degree cold. Air conditioning will be on some portion of each driving cycle, and there will be more stop-and-go and rapid-acceleration driving.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 31st, 2006 at 9:55 am and is filed under Hybrid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.