Nissan Leaf claims 367 MPG

Posted by anthonykuo , Aug, 2009 @ 10:50 am

nissan leaf

Following GM’s 230mpg claim for the Chevy Volt, Nissan has been kicking up a storm. It claims that its new electric car, the Leaf, can get up to 367 miles to the gallon. But here’s the catch – it’s completely electric and doesn’t use any fuel whatsoever! So technically, it either gets infinity miles per gallon, or just the number doesn’t exist.

So where does 367 come from? These massive numbers are based on both the Department of Energy and the EPA’s calculations for estimating equivalencies in electric cars. Why? Well, it seems that car companies are still giving us — the prospective buying public — MPG figures because they think that’s what we understand best.

But now that we’re shifting away from gas into completely electric cars, we need a new measure of efficiency, because although most of us don’t realize it, electricity is also bad for the environment (unless generated from clean sources). Miles per KwH, anyone?

Tags: chevy, electric cars, EV, GM, green, leaf, nissan, transportation, volt