LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As American consumers abandon gas-guzzling SUVs for greener alternatives, they also face a new kind of sticker shock -- confusing claims about the energy efficiency of electric cars heading for showrooms.
Federal fuel economy standards and household budgets have been built around relatively simple measurements of how many miles vehicles can travel per gallon of gasoline, a number that features on a sticker displayed in the windows of new cars in U.S. showrooms.
So what should those stickers show for new battery-powered cars that will draw most or all of their power from the country's electricity grid?
General Motors Co brought urgent new attention to the issue last week when it said its upcoming Chevy Volt would get an unprecedented 230 miles per gallon in city driving.
But critics jumped on GM's claim for the Volt as an example of brash marketing and fuzzy math.
Even electric car boosters concede there is room for confusion.
"The sticker problem has not been solved yet," said Felix Kramer, head of California-based CalCars.org, a nonprofit advocacy group for plug-in electric vehicles.
Under current rules, Toyota Motor Corp's hybrid Prius, has been the mass-market fuel-efficiency leader.
The Prius is rated for a combined city and highway fuel economy rating of 50 miles per gallon under standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
But Toyota's rivals, led by GM, are already making claims for a still-unreleased of would-be Prius killers, rechargeable electric vehicles they say will get the equivalent of over 100 miles per gallon under still-evolving federal standards.
Those claims hinge on assumptions about how typical drivers will behave and unfamiliar concepts for most consumers, such as kilowatt hours of electricity.
GM's Volt is being designed to run 40 miles on battery power alone after recharging overnight. After that, a small gas-powered engine will kick in as a generator to keep its battery from running down further.
For GM, the attention generated by its striking claims about the Volt may have succeeded in moving discussion away from its recent bankruptcy filing and the financial crisis that preceded it.
The EPA said it has not yet tested the Volt and could not verify the 230 mile-per-gallon claim.
WILL IT 'LIVE UP TO THE HYPE'?
source: reuters
