Gary Zhou 
Electric vehicles are getting progressively better, and this is especially evident in the Department of Energy’s highest MPGe list for Model Year 2022 EVs. As per data from the DOE, 17 electric vehicle models achieved 100 miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent (MPGe) or higher.
MPGe represents the “fuel economy” of electric cars in a unit that’s common with fossil fuel-powered vehicles, where 33.7 kWh of electricity is equal to the energy in one gallon of gasoline, according to the DOE. It is also used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to represent the efficiency of electric cars.
A total of 37 configurations from 17 different electric vehicle models were able to achieve 100 MPGe or higher. Among these vehicles, the base Tesla Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) was the most efficient, with 132 MPGe. The Model 3 RWD’s MPGe rating is certainly impressive as it is also Tesla’s most affordable car available today.
Following the Model 3 is the Lucid Air, an all-electric luxury car designed to take the fight to longtime luxury staples like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. As per the DOE’s data, the Lucid Air achieved 131 MPGe. In third place is the Model 3’s sibling, the Model Y crossover, which was listed with an equally impressive 129 MPGe.
Tesla’s other two flagship vehicles, the Model S sedan and the Model X crossover SUV, also achieved notable efficiency figures for Model Year 2022. As per the DOE’s data, the Model S was listed with 120 MPGe and the Model X, a large vehicle that weighs over 5,000 pounds, was still listed at 102 MPGe.
As noted by the DOE, the vehicles in its recent list only include all-electric cars, not hybrids and plug-in hybrids. There may be multiple configurations for a base model with differing characteristics such as drive type, battery size, wheel size, and trim-specific options. The DOE also highlighted that only the base model names were shown and only the highest MPGe values are listed for each model name.
