EPA Ratings - when?

[CEW]

When do these get announced?
I think it is "near" production ? Meaning before first trucks come off the production line? During the beginning of production?
I believe the tests are done in the Detroit area from what I've read.

When completed - does the EPA hold onto the results? Waiting for first deliveries of the truck to be announced?

 

[Moe]

I seem to recall new BEV models I was following didn’t show up at fueleconomy.gov until the vehicle was shipping to dealers and customers.

 

[ADFX01A]

I seem to recall new BEV models I was following didn’t show up at fueleconomy.gov until the vehicle was shipping to dealers and customers.

I hope they release the data sooner than that.

Of course we all know the saying about hope in one hand and B.S in the other!

 

[danielt1263]

When do these get announced?
I think it is "near" production ? Meaning before first trucks come off the production line? During the beginning of production?
I believe the tests are done in the Detroit area from what I've read.

When completed - does the EPA hold onto the results? Waiting for first deliveries of the truck to be announced?

We are talking the official government numbers yes? My guess is October. Likely some people will have gotten to test drive before the official numbers come out.

 

[Moe]

The automaker is the one who performs the test or pays a lab to do it for them. The EPA gives them the choice of two methodologies and they usually perform both and select the most favorable one to submit to the EPA. So the automaker can test preproduction vehicles and have an idea what the final rating will be.

 

[CEW]

Interesting! Didn't know they would allow the automakers to do that.

 

[CEW]

Epa estimate 205?

• Thread starterRonnie
• Start dateJul 8, 2026

Looks like there was a related thread to this subject early. last month!

 

[Trace26]

Interesting! Didn't know they would allow the automakers to do that.

This is actually how all of the federally mandated stuff works, they will/can be audited at some point and failing that audit can result in fines, recalls, or complete buybacks.

 

[dmon4u]

I was happy they had said the Truck had the equivalent of 96 MPG. Likely dependant on the price of gas but I think they said $4 a Gallon.

 

[danielt1263]

I was happy they had said the Truck had the equivalent of 96 MPG. Likely dependant on the price of gas but I think they said $4 a Gallon.

Odd... 205 miles on a 63kWh battery should be like 110 eMPG, shouldn't it?

 

[dmon4u]

Odd... 205 miles on a 63kWh battery should be like 110 eMPG, shouldn't it?

I recall hearing one Slate Rep saying they expect the all numbers may be higher in the final version of the truck.

 

[Moe]

Odd... 205 miles on a 63kWh battery should be like 110 eMPG, shouldn't it?

Yes.

Standard Calculation The U.S. Department of Energy defines 1 gallon of gasoline as equivalent to 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity.

The formula is:

MPGe=(Total Miles Driven / Total kWh Consumed) × 33.7

(205 / 63) x 33.7 ‎ = 109.659 MPGe
.

 

[Freyar]

MPGe is such a weird metric..
To trust it, I'd have to understand how they came to 1 gallon = 33.7kWh, and I have a suspicion it hasn't been adjusted for improvements to the technology.


I'm thinking just a M/kWh would be a better metric and keep it separate from gas.

 

[ADFX01A]

MPGe is such a weird metric..
To trust it, I'd have to understand how they came to 1 gallon = 33.7kWh, and I have a suspicion it hasn't been adjusted for improvements to the technology.


I'm thinking just a M/kWh would be a better metric and keep it separate from gas.

It comes from the fact that there is 33.7kw of chemical energy in one gallon of gasoline. In a ICE less than a third of that energy is converted into usable mechanical energy. Most of it is lost as waste heat.

 

[Moe]

Here are some comparisons.

Note that when the Rivian R2 results leaked before EPA release, their fans made a big deal that its Performance model with street tires was as efficient as a Model Y Performance (which pales in comparison to a regular Model Y AWD).

It turns out Rivian and Tesla used different testing methodology and as you’d expect in real world testing the tall blocky R2 with almost 10” of ground clearance wasn’t even close to the aerodynamic Model Y, even at 30 mph.

This is a typical OOS video that takes an hour to cover what they summarize in the last five minutes or so. The Rivian owner is the one who published the leak.