EVs and HEVs Perform Well In Govt.'s Annual Assessment

Electric and electric-hybrid vehicles performed well in the government's annual assessment of which new fuel-using vehicles get the best mileage. For the second consecutive year, Honda's electric-hybrid Insight took top honors, averaging 68mpg in the city and 61mpg on the highway. Coming in second was the electric-hybrid Prius by Toyota, which averaged just under 50mpg for both city and highway driving. Both cars use self-charging electric motors powered by batteries and small gasoline engines to vastly improve fuel economy over traditional and diesel engines.The wholly electric Toyota Rav4 EV, a wholly electric vehicle, had the best mileage of all, however, with a combined mileage of 104mpg, 117mpg in the city and 91mpg on the highway.After the two electric hybrids, the closest competitors were the Volkswagen Golf, Jetta and New Beetle diesel manual editions, each of which had 42mpg in the city and 49mpg on the highway; the manual Suzuki Swift, with 36 in the city and 42 on the highway; and the Honda Civic HX manual model, with 32 mpg in the city and 39mpg on the highway. The worst vehicles for mileage were the Ferrari 550 Maranello/Barchetta, with only 8mpg in the city and 13mpg on the highway; the Lamborghini DB132/144 Diablo, which gets 10mpg in the city and 13mpg on the highway; and lastly the Rolls Royce Corniche, which gets 11mpg in the city and 16mpg on the highway.