Electric 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf Named Most Efficient Compact EV

2015 vw e golf

There's a new name atop the efficiency leaderboard for compact EVs: According to the EPA, the 2015 Volkswagen Golf EV can provide an all-electric driving range of 83 miles with ratings of 126 MPGe city/105 MPGe highway/116 MPGe combined.

Of course, while the all-electric 2015 Volkswagen Golf does indeed lead its class in all four of those metrics, the class itself only has one other entry: the Ford Focus Electric, which rings up an EPA line of 110 MPGe city/99 MPGe highway/105 MPGe combined, complemented by a 76-mile range.

Still, that does leave VW's "e-Golf" in a fairly strong position in the overall EV rankings, shown below for the top-10 best-selling battery-electric cars in the country, as tallied by the HybridCars.com dashboard, as ranked by combined MPGe and as classified by the EPA:

• BMW i3 (subcompact)—137 MPGe city/111 MPGe highway/124 MPGe combined; range: 81 miles
• Chevy Spark EV (subcompact)—128 MPGe city/109 MPGe highway/119 MPGe combined; range: 82 miles
• Honda Fit EV (small station wagon)—132 MPGe city/105 MPGe highway/118 MPGe combined; range 82 miles
• 2015 Volkswagen Golf EV (compact)—126 MPGe city/105 MPGe highway/116 MPGe combined; range: 83 miles
• FIat 500e (minicompact)—122 MPGe city/108 MPGe highway/116 MPGe combined; range: 87 miles
• Nissan Leaf (midsize, really)—126 MPGe city/101 MPGe highway/114 MPGe combined; range: 84 miles
• Kia Soul EV (small station wagon)—120 MPGe city/92 MPGe highway/105 MPGe combined; range: 93 miles
• Ford Focus Electric (compact)—110 MPGe city/99 MPGe highway/105 MPGe combined; range: 76 miles
• Tesla Model S (large car)—94 MPGe city/97 MPGe highwy/95 MPGe combined; range: 208 miles
• Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive (midsize)—85 MPGe city/83 MPGe highway/84 MPGe combined; range: 87 miles

Also note that those numbers for the Tesla Model S are for the most-efficient model, with a 60-kWh battery; the 85-kWh model offers lower MPGe grades and a higher, 265-mile driving range

Packed with features, the 2015 Volkswagen Golf EV is launching in limited markets with an MSRP of $35,445 and post-tax-credit cost that falls $7,500 to $27,945