General Motors has been campaigning hard to promote its 230 mpg Chevrolet Volt. And Nissan has claimed its Leaf will get a whopping 367 mpg. While they aren’t exactly lying, electric cars don’t use any gas at all, which means they can’t technically get any miles to the gallon. The mpg numbers just don’t realistically represent the level of efficiency an electric vehicle has.

This is where the government is stepping in. The EPA and other agencies are working together to create a method which will accurately determine the efficiency of electric vehicles without using miles per gallon as a baseline. They’re expected to come to a decision by the end of this year or in early 2010.

This is good news for the consumer, who should be able to make more informed choices once a new system is put into place. However, a claim of 1000 nanojiggerydoos probably won’t be as cool sounding as 367 mpg. [Source: USA Today]