EPA Sets Mileage For Nissan Leaf

The EPA, which sets mileage figures for autos in the US, has arrived at a figure for the Nissan Leaf.

99 mpg-e.

For an electric vehicle that doesn't use gas, the Leaf gets 99 mpg-e?

It doesn't use a drop of gasoline, but the electric Nissan Leaf was just rated by the Environmental Protection Agency at the equivalent of 99 miles a gallon (mpg-e in EPA-speak).

That's because in most places, it takes some sort of fossil fuel to create electricity. But at 106 mpg-e in the city, 92 on the highway, the Leaf still becomes the highest-rated car for gas mileage. Those figures are nearly twice as much as the previous highest-rated car, a Toyota Prius hybrid.

The rating allows Nissan to go ahead and prepare a window sticker for the Leaf, which goes on sale next month. Nissan has 20,000 interested buyers lined up.

Here's a model EPA sticker for the Leaf. If the EPA arrives at this kind of figure for the Leaf, there's no telling as what the Chevy Volt will get.

Whatever it is, the EPA has to give the Volt a much lower mileage equivalent considering that the Volt operates in a pure gas engine mode after the first 30 miles (give or take a few miles).