EPA Fuel Economy as a Function of Vehicle Parameters
Another semester is over and once again, I can’t stop thinking about systems design. Specifically, as I did last semester , I find myself gathering data and trying to apply analysis techniques from aerospace systems design to try and learn something about the physical limits of fuel efficiency in cars. This time, I started with the EPA’s current list of battery electric (BEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and hybrid cars (HEV)—a comprehensive accounting of fuel economy ratings for several hundred vehicles—to try and get an idea of what the current state of alternative-fuel cars looks like. You can find these at www.fueleconomy.gov . For this analysis, I limited data to MY2025 cars but these included all 2025 BEV, PHEV, and HEV with EPA ratings in the US today with a few exceptions (cars for which I was unable to find other information, such as the Ferrari SF90 and 296, which are plug-in hybrids but for which Ferrari does not publish data such as curb weight). I also excluded ...