Automotive publication Edmunds has issued a recommendation to the U.S. EPA and DOT to change the window stickers on new vehicles to focus more on the cost of the energy required to use vehicles rather than a miles per gallon equivalent. The publication reports that the change of focus will make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions.

The issue is that the MPG estimates that hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the Mini E use make for unrealistic expectations in the consumer's mind. For example, General Motors bragged that its Chevrolet Volt will be rated at 230 mpg by the EPA. Nissan responded by claiming that its Leaf EV is rated at 367 mpg.

Edmunds CEO Jeremy Anwyl said, "Consumers have used the existing MPG ratings primarily to get a sense of the relative cost of operating a vehicle on a day-to-day basis. However, using energy equivalents can easily cause consumers to draw erroneous conclusions."

The issue according to Edmunds.com is that if you take the Mini E rating of 99 mpg equivalent and compare it to the the Toyota Prius' 50 mpg, you get the impression that the Mini E is half as expensive to fuel.

Using a proprietary formula, Edmunds found that the cost to fuel the vehicle is actually much less than the mpg ratings might lead consumers to believe. The Mini E has an estimated monthly fuel cost of $49 and the Prius has a monthly fuel cost of $67 reports Edmunds. The numbers are much closer than the mpg figures would lead consumers to believe.

"Looking at this analysis we find that electric vehicles do enjoy a cost advantage over their counterparts powered with other technologies--but this advantage is nowhere near as great as the proposed EPA ratings would imply," Anwyl said.

The window stickers already post the estimated fuel costs for new vehicles; Edmunds simply wants the windows stickers to make the monthly figure more noticeable than the mpg figures for the vehicles.